Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate
by Heir of Milenko
Summary: During the Battle on the Bridge against Haku and Zabuza, Naruto felt Sasuke's life fading away. As he lost his rival, his desire for respect seemed worthless. As his heart screams, a power from deep within his soul awakens. Every demon begins somewhere...
1. Chapter 1

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch. 1 – The End of Innocence

-0-

"You have to promise me… Naruto, promise me that if I die here, you'll avenge my clan in my place." A boy with spiky black hair lay broken, bloody and punctured all over his body. His blue shirt had gone black in some places, white shorts stained red. Held by his teammate, Naruto, the boy felt his blood flowing out into his clothing. He gave a weak grin to Naruto, before his eyes closed gently and his energy began to fade away. Naruto couldn't believe what he had just heard, much less what he was seeing and feeling.

"N-No, Sasuke… you can't do this, you're the strongest of us! You have to stay alive to regain your family's honor! You can't die! You can't, I mean- y-you just can't die!" Naruto was certain that if anyone were going to die for the team, it would be himself. _'If you're gone… how will I earn your respect? How can I avenge your clan when I know less about your brother than you do?' _He let his eyes close as the tears began to fall, ignoring the reflections of their foe in the mirrors surrounding the two. The opponent ninja hidden amongst the reflections shook his head, the white Hunter's mask upon his face betraying no thought.

'_He's suffering his first lost comrade… at least Zabuza's orders allow me to grant him a merciful death.' _The Hunter leapt from one of the mirrors, moving beyond what Naruto could've seen on average. As he stabbed precisely into the blond boy's neck, an orange aura appeared around the boy. The Hunter should've continued through into the mirrors behind Naruto, but found that the aura was holding him in place. _'What? Chakra can't physically hold someone, what is this?!'_

As he received his answer, the voice that echoed through the misty air rang with an almost electric power behind it. **"I was raised alone, with no one… I was placed on a team, and my heart called to my entire being 'Fight! Reach higher, climb further! If they will not give it, then take it yourself!' Now though, my heart speaks with a voice; A voice that is now clearly calling to me." **Naruto looked up into the eye-holes of the Hunter's mask, his eyes having become a shining orange glow with no discernible pupils, retinas or even corneas. The Hunter found himself locked in that gaze, feeling a crushing loneliness he hadn't known since before his master had taken him in. **"Fight! Reach higher into the heavens, climb further into hell! If they will not give their power, then take it for yourself!"**

With speed that even the hunter couldn't follow, Naruto grabbed his throat and shoved his head and torso through the mirror he'd leapt from. _'This is impossible, even I'm not this fast!' _The Hunter tried to move his fingers to form a handsign, but as though he'd known what the Hunter was thinking, Naruto tore his arm from his shoulder before the Hunter even saw Naruto twitch. An anguished scream erupted from him, Naruto ignoring it completely. He focused all of his rage on the one who'd taken the closest thing he had to a friend, and a second later Naruto's orange aura grew bright, spreading to cover the Hunter's entire form.

"**You call this 'Makyou Hyousho'?! I'll show you JUST how cruel real demons are!" **Naruto shouted, drawing energy from the Hunter as he was drained of his very essence. As the eyes Naruto stared into went blank, he stepped his right foot against his left heel, rotating to throw the Hunter past Sasuke. With the blazing aura catching fire on the Hunter's body, it impacted against his master; a ninja wielding a long cleaver-style sword. The flames exploded, the burning aura spreading to the man and eliciting a new, just as agonizing shout from the Hunter's master. **"Real demons…"**

Naruto calmed down as he heard his own voice in this echoing tone, looking at his bloody hands in surprise and confusion. A light blue sphere of shining light was held in his left hand, before it spread into his aura. He looked around, seeing the Bridge clearly. He jumped toward his team-leader roughly twenty-five meters away, surprising himself as he appeared the second after he jumped. If not for his leader's extra-ordinary reaction time, Naruto would've been sliced through his own throat. "N-Naruto? What is all that? I mean…" The man looked toward the other member of their team, satisfied that she was out of ear-shot, "… that isn't the Kyuubi's energy. It's definitely demonic, but where the Kyuubi's power is hateful, this is lamenting. It makes me feel alone, it makes me feel so alone it hurts… it feels like how I always imagined you do."

"**I can't explain this… I can see as though there were no mist, I feel like I could run for years without stopping, and I ripped off that Hunter-nin's arm before I even knew what I was doing. Sasuke…"**

"I know. But please… reel that energy in. I can't see clearly, but I can see chakra like this… and there's quite the party on the other end of the bridge." The man cut Naruto off, as he felt the pain in his aura intensify, trying to keep the demonic boy in his right mind._ 'Could the Kyuubi have corrupted his chakra into… whatever this is? We have to make it back to Konoha… Jiraiya-sama needs to see this.' _"For now, we need to protect Sakura and Tazuna-san. Can you focus enough to fight?"

"**Believe me… I'll have no problem with that." **Naruto answered, walking toward the other end of the bridge. As he passed the still-burning corpses of their foes, Zabuza's sword flew into Naruto's left hand. The light blue sphere returned, shining as bright as the sun. It flew into the sword's hilt, the entire piece shining a blinding white. When the light cleared, the sword had changed slightly. The blade had become an obsidian material, the shape remaining while five kanji etched into either side of the blade shined with a cyan light. _'What? What happened to it?'_

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a slow clap, a man walking into average sight as roughly fifty mercenaries followed behind him. "Well, well, well. Looks like he wasn't worth that price he demanded. Too bad he already blew through his down-payment, I won't be getting that back." The man was short, and appeared to be a businessman of some kind. He wore sunglasses with a black suit, and a truly awful hairdo. "Still, the remaining price was far more than all of these guys put together. But feel free to cut one or two down, I'm always welcome to partying spare cash away."

Naruto scoffed, his grip tightening on the sword. As his aura spread along the blade's length, Naruto raised it straight outward to his left, spinning around once with a strong burst of his newfound power. As the men now gazed upon the demonic-looking boy, they like the Hunter found they couldn't look away from his eyes. **"You squeeze this country dry, you bully their people, and to top off my only friend died trying to stop men you couldn't give a single shit about." **As though handling a kunai knife, Naruto span the sword between his fingers as the aura around the blade intensified. **"You don't deserve the honor of falling by the sword. But in your case…" **The man laughed uproariously, before an orange blur rushed past him and Naruto ran his stomach through from behind, **"… I make an exception. Pray that we never meet again, bastard."**

Naruto turned the sword, the businessman's guts spilling from the gaping hole it made as Naruto slashed out from his left straight around to his right. The businessman and the nearest five mercenaries were severed at the stomach, a wave of burning orange energy washing over twenty more of the mercenaries next to him. Naruto's teammates and their client were shocked, but not near as shocked as the remaining twenty-five mercenaries.

"**Math time boys and girls, if I killed half of you in one cut how many more do I need to make?" **Naruto stood with the sword resting on his shoulder as he stared at the terrified men. He raised the sword above his head, and immediately the remaining mercenaries ran off onto the road on the other side of the bridge. Naruto brought the sword down to his right hip, the aura around the blade intensifying until the light was blinding. **"Get out of my sight." **Naruto slashed out to his left, releasing a stronger wave of burning energy. It incinerated the men, doing the same to the first fifty meters of the forest.

As he watched the flames burn down a few more trees, his team leader approached from behind. As he did, Naruto heard his female teammate find Sasuke. Her sobs were anguished almost as much as the mutilated opponents', Naruto looking disdainfully down at the sword in his hand. _'… why?' _The sword itself began to glow bright cyan, before vanishing into similar-colored energy that integrated into Naruto's aura before it began receding into Naruto. His eyes returning to their normal state, Naruto looked up to his team leader with orange-retinas to match his jumpsuit.

"Kakashi-sensei… what was all of that?" Naruto asked, the elder man shifting his headband to hide his red eye. "Was it the fox or… was it me?"

"I'm sorry to tell you this… but that was all you. I don't know whether that power was originally the Kyuubi's, but I know that no one in Konoha will care." Kakashi sighed, trying not to get his hopes up without being honest. "Whether you say anything or not is entirely up to you… but if you can pull that off again you'll need an explanation. As it is I need to give my report without writing one out. And then, there's the matter of Sakura."

"I don't care anymore. I'm the one the secret is supposed to protect, and it never has. Once we return… I'm giving Jiji the go-ahead to repeal the law." Naruto said, turning around to walk away. Kakashi tried to stop him, but found that Naruto was much stronger than ever before. He brushed the elder-man's hand off without even noticing. Their client tried to praise him for the superhuman feat, but Naruto seemed to be in his own world. That is, up until his female teammate discovered something.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke's still breathing!" Her name was Sakura, and though he couldn't explain it, Naruto felt his mood shift completely. He ran to them as quickly as he could, falling to his knees and breaking out into an ecstatic grin when he saw the dark-haired boy's eyes opening.

"Sasuke, you're alive! I thought you were dead, I-" Naruto stopped at that, not feeling like a blow to his rival's ego would help anyone at that moment. Kakashi looked on at the three, forgetting the questions for a moment to join in their happy triumph. They'd gotten their precious teammate back, and he felt that they'd thoroughly accomplished their first-ever B-rank mission.

'_We'll worry when we're all back home, for tonight we can rest and celebrate.' _Kakashi pulled out a small orange book, donning a contented look as he allowed them their moment.

-0-

"… After the sword vanished, the aura receded into Naruto's chakra stores. But after that, even my Sharingan couldn't keep track of it. The only other appearance of the energy was a slight spike when he saw Sasuke waking back up. It seems linked to strong emotions, not just hatred and loss. But the feeling of it is definitely Naruto, if you felt that horrible loneliness, the pain and lament… that wasn't the Kyuubi."

The old man sitting behind the desk sighed, taking a long drag from a standard wooden tobacco pipe. His hat was in a shade-style with a white drape around the back and a red triangle at the front edge. "So, it is really true… I was hoping my student had been worrying over nothing. You need not concern yourself with it, but rest assured that I know what has happened and what to do. Get a message to Mt. Myouboku for Jiraiya; we need him back to examine the situation." The man said, Kakashi nodding his head with a slight bow.

"Right away, Sarutobi-sama." With that, Kakashi walked out the door and left the Hokage's Mansion. Sarutobi sighed, looking out over his village.

'_Naruto-kun… I am so sorry.' _


	2. Chapter 2

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch. 2 – The Way of Fear

-0-

"The Chuunin Exams? Are you sure we're ready for that Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura had been uncomfortable with her team since the mission to Nami no Kuni, specifically with the mysterious power that Naruto had demonstrated during the last battle of the mission. A week after they returned her mother had taken her home from a D-rank mission to tell her about a law that had recently been repealed, like many others her age being informed of Naruto's burden.

He was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a Jinchuuriki being a human prison. This meant that he held the most powerful of the Tailed Demon Beasts that roamed the world within a seal on his stomach, one placed there upon his birth by the Yondaime Hokage. Having been told that the Yondaime was the one to seal it, Sakura still trusted that Naruto was Naruto, it was just that she no longer trusted that Naruto was a safe person himself. While he HAD thought Sasuke was dead at the time, he slaughtered over fifty people using a mysterious demonic power. And to top off, all Kakashi could positively confirm was that it wasn't the Kyuubi's own power.

"I'm certain that we're ready, I don't know what she's talking about." Sasuke had taken the news of Naruto's burden far more graciously, having perhaps gained a newfound respect for the blond. He remembered the words that Naruto spoke to him, and coming from one who'd suffered perhaps worse than he did, it meant a lot to be called the strongest. It was at Naruto's insistence that Sasuke became Naruto's training partner, finding delight in how far the blond could be pushed before he needed a break from the fighting. "We've been training rigorously to perfect our skills. We're nowhere near perfect yet, but I'm sure Kakashi-sensei agrees we're far above average."

Sakura looked to the ground, not willing to protest her fears in argument to Sasuke's wishes. Naruto, however, spoke as a voice of reason between them. "Yeah, WE have. If we want to do this, and we do, then we've gotta make sure Sakura can hold her own. Don't you agree Kakashi-sensei?"

Their leader nodded from behind his little orange book, Naruto sighing at his openly lecherous behavior. Sakura, however, reacted a bit more loudly. "Kakashi-sensei! How come you're always reading that disgusting smut in front of us! It's unseemly for a Jounin, especially a Team-leader!" Sasuke had relaxed into their team dynamic, quietly laughing at Sakura's futile attempts to right their teacher as Naruto simply waited for a real answer to his question.

"Seriously Sensei, I'm taking that exam and I don't want to be responsible what happens if we're not ready for it. Can't you help us spar a little bit just so we know?" Naruto asked, Kakashi raising a finger and wagging no at them.

"I am thoroughly convinced that you three can all handle it, but if any among you should have second thoughts then I recommend you just don't show up. If you think you'll drag one another back, sit this exam out. But I think you're ready. Now," Kakashi turned and began walking away, "you'd best start filling those out if you hope to have any daylight left for training. Or were you boys going to act normal for once?"

"We're shinobi; Training every day IS normal." Naruto responded immediately, nodding his head at Sasuke. "HE, however, has some business to take care of if I remember right. Or was that last week?" Sasuke shook his head, walking after Kakashi.

"You remember correctly. I need to handle some errands if I'm going to keep everything in the Uchiha name on the compound's property. We'll catch up for a warm-up an hour before the exam, alright?" Sasuke asked, not even turning around.

"Agreed. Later." Naruto said, putting his arms behind his head and walking off into town toward Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. It had always been his favorite, even if Sasuke would kick his ass for eating so poorly the day before an exam. He had gotten into his happy place so quickly that he didn't notice Sakura chase after him until she shouted.

"ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION?!" Sakura shouted, Naruto shaking his head as he cleared his thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" Naruto caught a punch that sent him flying into a fence, breaking clear through it. He coughed a bit, walking out unscathed and dusting off his jumpsuit. "Shit Sakura, you can hit like that and you're worried about Chuunin exams? Why didn't you ever do that in training?"

Sakura was a little surprised that he wasn't upset about the hit, but a bit confused about the topic. "I only get strong like that when I'm really angry, it's not effective in combat." She said Naruto laughing a bit.

"Well of course not, that's why you need to practice it! You could've just talked to Kakashi-sensei about that, he could check whatever your instincts are doing with his Sharingan and help you do it on purpose." Naruto said, Sakura blushing at her own lack of fore-thought. "Hey chill, Kakashi-sensei had to give me the idea first. It's not like I'm smarter."

Naruto held his trademarked grin, his own joy and positive attitude spreading to Sakura. "Hey Naruto… would it be alright if you guys help me train next chance we have?" Sakura was blushing again, embarrassed by all the things she used to say to him. As they rounded the corner, they found themselves watching a child that had befriended Naruto before the secret came out.

"No problem, but you better be serious. I'm free right after I get my lunch." Naruto seemed completely carefree, having learned how little the village's opinions really mattered. For the first month he was more brutally ostracized. After he shrugged off the fourth angry mob, the villager's stopped wasting their time trying to kill him and simply avoided crossing him. That is, the non-ninjas did. He gained miles of respect from the veteran ninjas for his willingness to accept the situation for what it was. However, the fear-factor on someone who just won't die made a big difference.

"I mean it… because I'm doing the exam tomorrow too." Sakura said, Naruto nodding as his young friend and his classmates ran off around the corner. That is, they tried, but Naruto's friend Konohamaru bounced off of someone around the corner. Naruto would've laughed, except a guy with a man-sized bundle on his back stepped forward and lifted him by the scarf he liked to wear. Sakura was about to run off to him when Naruto grabbed her wrist, making her look back with a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"Leave it to me, he's MY friend after all. I've got this, promise." Naruto said, his smile gone and replaced with an almost bored look. They came up on them rather quickly, both noting the Sunagakure forehead protector on the boy's hood.

"Well you should watch where you're going, shouldn't ya little brat?" The Suna ninja wasn't alone, implying he was a genin. Naruto looked around, seeing only the blond girl at his left side looking at her teammate with disdain.

"Why the hell are you being such an idiot, Kankuro? We're guests here, you're gonna get us in trouble!" She said, noticing the headbands on Naruto and Sakura. She didn't mention, however, and Naruto decided to be a bigger jerk than the Suna-nin. He unzipped and pulled off his jacket, throwing it into the boy's face. He stood there for a second, his teammate laughing at him. The boy dropped Konohamaru, the younger boy and his friends running and hiding behind Sakura.

"Who the hell's got a death wish here?" Kankuro asked, throwing the jacket to the ground as Naruto scoffed.

"Hey, come on man. First you screw with my little pal here; next you throw my favorite jacket in the dirt. Haven't you got any respect?" Naruto asked, standing with his hands on his hips. Kankuro walked a little closer to show he was taller, a smirk resting on his lips.

"Respect, huh? Last I checked it wasn't respectful for little kids to go throwing stuff and knocking into their superiors." Kankuro said, finding Naruto's heel connecting with his chin and sending him a meter into the air before landing flat on his rear.

"Equal rank, moron. At least if your squad of three here is any indication. Kankuro, was it?" Naruto asked, walking over to the Suna-nin and lifting him by his collar and above his head to let him know what it was like. "You made two mistakes. First, you decided to get all bitchy with the Hokage's grandson. Second, you had the gall to try and pick a fight with Team Seven."

"Did you say Team Seven?" The girl asked, before she registered what Naruto had said and looked around for their teammate.

"Temari, shut up." The girl, Temari, found her answer in the tree behind her where a boy of similar age with red hair, light teal eyes and a red tattoo on the left side of his forehead. "Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village. Get back to the hotel, now." Naruto was satisfied with that, turning to walk away. As he did, Kankuro rushed him from behind.

"Naruto, look out!" Sakura said, Naruto smiling at her with a wink. The next thing that happened was a rock flying out and striking the middle of Kankuro's back. The boy fell to the ground with a shameful yelp, all eyes but Naruto's turning to the tree parallel the red-head's perch. There sat Sasuke, tossing another rock up and down in his hand while he awaited another response. "Sasuke-kun!"

"Remember what she said, idiot. You're guests in this village, don't make us apprehend you." Sasuke said, doing his best not to smirk. Sasuke hopped down to Naruto's side, who met his gaze and nodded with a grin.

"Took you long enough. Here I thought I'd be the only one getting a workout." Naruto said, Sasuke letting his smirk slip with a chuckle.

"Unnecessary." The red-head now stood before his teammates, looking at Team Seven with a blank expression. His voice was rough, as though he were actively holding back his own aggression. "I apologize for my siblings' behavior, they were meant to meet our Sensei and I to register for the Chuunin exams."

"Not a problem, just as long as you aren't screwing with any other innocent kids." Naruto said, turning around with his grin in place. "Gonna take the exams, huh? Us too. Hope to get a fun fight outta you three when the law's not in our way." Naruto sensed something familiar in the red-head, and had decided to try and confirm his hunch.

He got his wish as the 'law in our way' statement elicited a dark smile. The red-head turned around, walking off. The other two were looking at Team Seven like they were insane, before scrambling to follow their brother. "Hold it a second." Sasuke said, waiting for the red-head to turn and look back at them. "What's your name?"

"Sabaku no Gaara. What are your names?" Gaara responded, his smile having become a devilish grin.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said, grabbing his jacket off of the ground. He pointed his thumb to Sasuke a second before he proceeded to pull his jacket back on.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke said, turning and walking off to handle his errands for real this time. Sakura was about to introduce herself, but the Suna trio walked off before she could. As Konohamaru ran out to praise Naruto's actions, Sakura thought to the whole exchange. In doing so, she reaffirmed her decision to bring her training to Naruto and Sasuke's level. She couldn't be so far behind… not anymore.

-0-

The next morning, the three found the Exam center to be the Ninja academy. School was out of session for the summer months, leaving the grounds completely open. In Sakura's mind it made sense, but Naruto and Sasuke were a bit disappointed that there wasn't a more impressive testing area. Especially since they knew a portion of the exam involved the arena off the west-side of the village. "Everyone caught their breath?" Naruto asked, feeling comfortably prepared to get going.

Sakura was a little nervous, but Naruto gave her a confident smile that once again seemed to spread some of his optimism over to her. It was no wonder Sasuke was becoming talkative, even sociable. He spent more time than anyone exposed to that once-inane optimism. As the other two nodded with their own smiles, the three walked in side-by-side.

They recognized no one, but it made sense given that the exam was in room 302. They walked down the first hallway off their left, remembering that this stair-case was the closest to the room they wanted. However, the security gate remained down and they weren't in the mood to risk breaking rules they didn't yet know of. Following after Sasuke, they proceeded to head to the stairs at the end of the hallway directly beneath the room they wanted. As they went past room 102, however, there was a pair of Chuunin holding people out of the room for some reason. They normally would've been tempted to call them on it, but they'd agreed that they wouldn't do anything to call additional attention to themselves since they'd already picked a fight with the Suna trio.

As they walked right past, the boy the Chuunin were keeping out looked at them as they walked off. His own teammates walked back up to him, the three following after Team Seven. As they passed other Konoha teams, Sasuke and Sakura noticed the way they looked at Naruto. Those that weren't terrified were seething with rage, a few teams even having to hold their teammates back physically. They entered a more open area that sat just before the next stair-case, the boy calling out to them. "Konoha Team Seven, hold it right there!"

They did as stated, stopping where they stood and turning around. All three immediately analyzed the one who spoke along with his teammates. They had determined that as the academically smartest, Sakura was allowed to offer info if she had any. "Konoha Team Ten, Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten under Maito Gai. I don't know the skills beyond Neji, though."

"Tenten's hands grip out of habit, Neji is obvious and I'd wager my sword those bandages mean Lee takes after Gai." Naruto said, Lee walking forward and pointing at Sasuke challengingly.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, correct?" Lee said, Sasuke smirking and nodding. "I would wish to fight you. Please, prepare yourself."

"You're a rude one, grasshopper." Naruto said. "Not only did you ignore our lovely teammate, you went and challenged him to a fight without even offering your own name." Lee bowed deeply, seeming extremely proper.

"My apologies, but I can read lips and noticed you already know my name as well as ascertained my fighting style. This makes me all the more eager to test myself against you, a member of the prestigious Uchiha Clan." Lee said, spreading his legs and lifting his left hand with his right in a fist behind his back.

"Remember, their style is way more refined than my brawling. You're still going in blind if you take it." Naruto said, Sakura keeping a calm face while her worry grew.

"It's just a spar. Besides, what's a good fight with no mystery?" Sasuke responded, Lee donning a pleased smirk as Sasuke took a common Uchiha stance; Left side forward with fisted arm bent in, right arm fisted and held up and back, a stance called Interceptor. "Show me what you've got, Rock Lee. Let's see the merit behind these rumors of your Sensei's."

"They are no rumors, I assure you." Lee said, running swiftly at Sasuke and performing a roundhouse kick. Naruto had once tried this as a trick, and Sasuke watched Lee's waist while he ducked the blow and prepared for either an axe-kick or the other leg. However, he was almost caught in the face by the back-hand punch that Lee involved in his kick after Sasuke ducked. Sasuke took a step back, Naruto smirking as Lee moved quickly enough to almost vanish. Training against Naruto's new skills, almost was far too slow to catch Sasuke. Lee's kick for Sasuke's chin landed Lee on his hands and knees before the green-wearing boy could tell what had happened. As he looked up, all he saw was Sasuke standing in his Interceptor stance once again.

"Have you had enough of a try? Or do you feel like tipping your hand this early in the exam?" Sasuke asked, wearing a grin meant to goad him into fighting more. Having Neji as a teammate, however, Lee knew when it was time to step back and re-plan; especially since Neji absolutely loved to grin like that at him.

"That's plenty for me. Thank you for letting me get a feel for your skills, I'm confident that this will be an excellent exam." Lee said, walking back to his team. Tenten began berating him for showing ANY of his skills yet, but Team Seven walked up the stairs before they could hear that continue any further.

"So, decent warm-up?" Naruto asked, Sasuke nodding with a satisfied smirk. "Good job sticking to your textbook moves, I feel like we have a few advantages." Naruto said, being careful not to let his strength go to his head; and more importantly, careful not to say anything that might imply too much about their skills.


	3. Chapter 3

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 3 – A Devil's Game

-0-

Kakashi stood outside of the door waiting for his students, the three smiling when they saw him. "Hey, glad you all came. Good thing, if one of you had decided against it then I would've had to turn the others away. Good luck." Kakashi said, not even reading his book for once. His eye seemed to denote a smile beneath his mask, the man walking down the hallway as the three opened the doors.

The atmosphere was a good deal tenser than they'd anticipated. A huge amount of genin were all stuffed into the same area, most of them a bit older than Team Seven. They looked around, Sakura spotting a few teams they'd graduated with talking to some silver-haired ninja with glasses. He was unfamiliar to all three, but he had a Konoha headband. Naruto found he was uncomfortable as he felt the ninja's presence. Since his strength had awakened, he found himself able to feel the emotions of those around him through their own natural auras. Most of the room was anxious, or overbearingly confident. Some were simply murderous. But this guy was giving off a sense of delight. What worried Naruto was that there was also a murderous intent behind that.

"Careful of the silver-haired guy, I don't like the feeling I'm getting." Naruto said, Sasuke nodding as they continued toward him. They all focused on the group near him, managing to make out the conversation more and more as they approached.

"… and I have more detailed information too. If you have anyone you're interested in learning about, I can tell you guys what I know." The boy was in his later teen years, seeming rather out of place there. While he couldn't get a comfortable guess at the boy's intent, Naruto did have a reliable guess that his skills were at least at Zabuza's level. Naruto decided to be the one to speak, waving to the team he was speaking to. All three were people they'd graduated with, showing no change of opinion toward Naruto since then.

"Now why would anyone be so helpful during a competitive exam?" Naruto asked, hands in his pockets as he held a calm smile toward the unknown boy.

"Just trying to show a little compassion for my fellow Konoha ninja, is there something wrong with that?" The boy asked, a glint of something unknown to Naruto in the boy's stare. "Yakushi Kabuto, pleased to meet you. How about you? Anyone you're interested in learning a bit about here?"

'_If I call him on it then I'd draw attention. I don't like having to hide.' _Naruto smiled a little wider, nodding as he responded. "One person interests me; do you know anything about Uchiha Sasuke?" Naruto kept his face perfectly still as he stared into Kabuto's eyes, the boy chuckling a little as he broke the contact. While Team Eight, the three who Kabuto had offered the info to first, looked at Naruto strangely for asking about inside info on his own teammate.

"Well yes, but it's odd to research one's own teammate like that." Kabuto said, pulling a seemingly blank index card from a stack in his hand. He placed it on the ground, then placed his index finger in the center. It began spinning around, but as it did text and an image of Sasuke appeared on the card.

'_Says the one who identified all three of us on sight…' _Sasuke immediately became more wary of him when he noticed Kabuto's perceptiveness.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Konoha Team Seven. Teammates Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto. Mission record is thirty D-Rank missions, three C-Rank missions and a B-Rank. Wow! A B-Rank as a genin, how impressive!" Kabuto was doing a decent job of selling his part, but having walked in with suspicions Team Seven was growing ever more suspicious of him. "Apparently he's managed to unlock his family's bloodline already, now that really IS impressive!"

That solidified their suspicions, as Sasuke had only used his recently-awakened Sharingan in training with Naruto and, as of the previous night, Sakura. "Me too, tell me what you've got on Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara. In that order, please." Sakura asked, having caught onto the suspicions and the apparent plan. _'Let's see how much you know.'_

"Another teammate search, well at least it's an easy one." Kabuto said, pulling the next card off the top and repeating his revealing process. "Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha Team Seven. Teammates Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Same mission record. And apparently, a law was repealed immediately following Team Seven's return from Nami no Kuni that revealed Uzumaki-san as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That's… well, it explains a bit." Kabuto said, Naruto sensing his focus shift away from them with a sense of relief washing over the boy.

"Next up is Sabaku no Gaara. Suna Team One, teammates Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Temari. Mission record is a little strange, zero D-Ranks, thirty C-Ranks, five B-Ranks… and an A-Rank mission. What's more, all I've got beyond that is that he's reportedly NEVER been hurt, or even touched for that matter." Kabuto was genuinely worried about being in the exam against this one, but as soon as the emotion appeared it was replaced by his false sense of calm.

Naruto kept his eyes on Kabuto, but Sasuke pulled Sakura away from Naruto's left side as a ninja from a squad a decent ways away rushed forward toward Kabuto. Once she'd been pulled over she saw the ninja charging, and she restrained the urge to call out to Naruto after seeing him spar with Sasuke. As the ninja closed in, Naruto kept his eyes glued to Kabuto, whose gaze kept shifting between Naruto and the rushing ninja. He passed Naruto without even touching him, making a punch at Kabuto that he stopped five centimeters from the bridge of his nose. The next second, Kabuto's glasses cracked along the center of each lens. The second after that, Kabuto fell to the ground and began puking.

The other Genin standing around proceeded to write him off as a weaker combatant that probably wouldn't get far, while Naruto was also written off as an idiot who didn't see the threat rush in from behind. "He he, put this on your little index cards, the Oto Genin are all becoming Chuunin here!" The boy jumped directly backward three times, coming to rest in front of his teammates.

At that moment, a plume of smoke appeared in between the group of Konoha Genin and the Oto Team. As it cleared, a gruff and booming voice rang out from a tall man in a black trench coat. "Alright, that's enough of that! One more person does a single thing I don't say is out of the exams!" The man looked sharply at the Oto Nin that had attacked Kabuto, the boy scoffing and breaking his gaze. When the man looked to Kabuto, he saw him wiping his mouth with Naruto still staring at the suspicious boy. "You'll find several proctors standing around in the crowd, they'll tell each of you where you're sitting. The written portion will now begin!"

'_They sent a drill sergeant to give a paper test? Who are they sending for the competitive portions?' _Sasuke was unnerved a little, but he felt confident in his ability to get through a test of questions. Sakura was elated at the news, while Naruto just decided he'd find some way to get around it. As he was ushered to a seat, he found he was next to one of the Konoha ninja, a girl from Team Eight. Her hair was short and blue, with white eyes and pale skin. She wore a bulky beige jacket, but even through it she was clearly well-endowed. She always got flustered around Naruto, but he never felt any need to investigate it. However, the way her aura made him feel was directly in between terror and absolute joy. Naruto was completely unfamiliar with it, but the joy felt a lot like Sakura's aura did when she was right next to Sasuke.

'_Wait… no. No, the truth has come out. There's no way she could feel like this 'cause of me. There's something else going on here… we aren't the only ones who came with paranoid planning.' _Naruto did what he could not to look at her, having learned from Sasuke's ass-kicking how to learn to see detail through his peripheral vision. And he was completely certain, the girl on his right kept sneaking glances at him. Her anxiety was waning with every glance that he didn't respond to, but every time he shifted even a little it came back right away.

"Alright, this exam has a few rules. They'll be here on the board for you so you can't claim ignorance. Rule number One. You begin this exam with ten points and fail when your points hit zero. Rule number Two. There are ten questions and you are docked one point for every blank or incorrect answer. Rule number Three. If you are caught cheating in ANY way, you are docked two points." The man said, writing first the name Morino Ibiki on the board, presumably himself. "Rule number Four. If you fail, so do both of your teammates. Rule number Five is a little different than you might be used to. The test only has nine questions written down, and the tenth will be given verbally from me in the last fifteen minutes of this portion of the exam, which is in one hour. You may begin."

Naruto thought about it for a moment, running over rules one and three specifically. _'We start with points? And if I write nothing then I fail, along with Sasuke and Sakura… I can't do that to them, they'd be stuck doing C and MAYBE B-Rank missions. How… but wait, we don't get failed JUST for cheating?' _Naruto smirked as he watched Ibiki write down the third rule, checking his wording carefully. As he did, he looked around to see if anyone were doing very well. While several others in the room seemed distressed, he noticed only Sakura, Sasuke and two non-descript ninjas answering any of the questions confidently. It was then that he noticed the girl next to him writing out an answer to the seventh question on the sheet.

Naruto kept a watch on her while he pretended to stare at Ibiki, waiting patiently as she finished her test sheet and then resumed her glancing at Naruto. As he noticed her glancing, he saw her eyes drift to his own blank sheet. Her anxious aura returned as intense as ever, fluctuating in intensity as she looked back and forth between his paper and her own. _'You have to be kidding me… I don't believe this. Those Hyuuga… are her clan's elders trying to take advantage of her? I need to find out…'_

Naruto was growing ever more suspicious of councils as a whole, the civilian council having tried to call for his exile when he requested the law be repealed on his secret tenant. For all he knew, the Hyuuga's Elder Council demanded she bring him to them for the sake of enslaving him with a family 'Secret' of the Hyuuga. Probably in exchange for wealth or clan standing, maybe even a plea out of a marriage arrangement. He wrote the girl's own name in the name area of his test, sliding his test over toward her. At that, her anxiety rose a bit, which made Naruto feel like he was correct about her clan's council having something to push her into it. That is, until it was replaced completely with relief.

Without waiting even a second, she quickly switched hers and Naruto's papers. He was further surprised at seeing that she'd written his name on her test in the first place. _'What? No, that's wrong. You should be feeling exposed, or defeated like I figured it out. What the hell, Hinata?!' _Naruto was at a loss for a reason to justify his disbelief, having only his childhood experiences as any evidence of trickery going through her mind.

As far as anything Naruto could feel coming from her… Hyuuga Hinata had a crush on him even worse than Sakura's for Sasuke. Ibiki did nothing about it, simply allowing one of the proctors to silently dock each of them two points. It was a loophole, but if the job got done then the job got done. Were it done wrong then the fool would be dead, and it would be his own fault for slacking in his training.

Naruto smiled and waved at him, leaning back in his chair while Hinata filled in her new sheet. Naruto just stared at his name, written in Hinata's hand-writing. He felt completely confused… either she both knew that she would be sitting next to him and that she'd be able to swap their tests with no risk, or she cared more for him than he was willing to consider. Even still, with the former being possible, he couldn't afford to let her get too close without investigating her family's intentions a bit further.

As thirty more minutes went by, about half of the room had been disqualified for cheating inadequately while the rest either figured out the answer or obtained them through varied techniques. It was then that Ibiki raised his voice to call everyone's attention. "Listen up; it's time for the last question. But before that, this question comes with a special rule. You have to decide whether or not you take the tenth question. If you refuse, then you are docked ten points and fail. However, if you take it and get it wrong, then you may never take the Chuunin Exams ever again."

Naruto immediately felt an overwhelming outrage from all directions, incapable of sensing any other kind of feeling at the moment. _'I need to work on filtering people out if this is gonna be anything but a nuisance.' _ Naruto ignored them and paid attention to Ibiki, waiting for him to continue as he countered various complaints relating to 'fairness.'

"It's none of my concern whether or not this is fair. Now, any who don't feel like they can handle this question, get up and get out. Now." About three different teams ended up leaving with individuals opting out, Naruto not concerning himself with it at the moment. He continued to stare at Ibiki, the man waiting for the last one to leave the room. "Last chance, anyone here gonna leave while they can?" When no one did anything but stare, he smiled with a light chuckle. "Well then… you all pass."

At that one, Naruto's composure slipped. "Wait, what the hell do you mean by that?" Naruto asked, Ibiki laughing a bit.

"Just what I said. 'Will you take the question or not?' That was the tenth question. The point is that-"

At that instant a beige ball crashed through the window, a kunai flying off of it into either side of the ceiling to stretch out a banner of some kind. It read 'The Sexy and Superior Mitarashi Anko!' with a woman wearing a beige trench coat with purple hair standing in front of it. She wore a miniskirt and fishnet shirt beneath her trench coat, a strange grin on her face. "Playtime's over, kiddies! I'm Mitarashi Anko, proctor of the Second stage of the Chuunin Exams! I- hey, wait. Where's Ibiki gone too?"

"… You're early again, Anko." Ibiki said calmly from behind the banner, Anko laughing weakly as she rubbed the back of her neck. Ibiki chuckled, turning and walking off to do other things now that she'd arrived.

"Alright then! Let's get going, everyone follow me!" Anko said, pointing out the broken window, leaping out to the tree outside of the academy and heading off toward her personally favorite training ground.

-0-


	4. Chapter 4

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 4 – The Blood of the Snake

-0-

"Welcome to Training Ground number Forty-Four, affectionately named the Forest of Death." Anko said, a wicked grin across her lips. "Before we begin, everyone's going to have to sign a waiver to officially protect Konoha from whatever laws your home-villages have about dying here." Anko said, looking around at the crowd. Her grin widened further at seeing Team Seven, Sasuke holding Naruto's jaw closed. "Oh, don't do that to your little buddy! I want to know what he's got to say!"

Sasuke looked over to her, scowling as he released Naruto. The blond cast his teammate an annoyed glance, before he took a deep breath and settled for glaring at the woman. Naruto stepped forward as the woman vanished, Anko tripping and falling on her face where Naruto had been standing a moment before. While she picked herself up, most of the other Genin around were laughing at her slip. Only a few noticed Naruto avoid her, but only she noticed him kick her ankle as she passed.

Dusting herself off, Anko walked over to a tent set up next to a chain link fence surrounding the forest compound. Keeping her frustration to herself, she took a stack of waivers and began passing them out. As she handed Naruto one, she glared at him with a legitimately upset look on her face. "Ruin all my fun." Naruto kicked himself internally, for once cursing the instinct he'd obtained since the Nami mission. If there WERE a threat to worry of, then they had a good chance of encountering them as a result of his reaction. He did his best to scan the crowd around him, but he didn't have enough experience to detect someone who knew how to hide their interest.

"Now then, once you've turned in your waivers you'll be given either a heaven scroll," At that statement she held out a white scroll, "Or an earth scroll." At this she held up a black scroll. "Half of the teams will be given heaven scrolls, while the other half are given earth scrolls. The only way to pass this portion is to arrive at the tower in the Forest's center with both scrolls. Put simply, you'll be fighting each other over these." Anko looked directly at Naruto with a taunting smirk. "And another aspect is survival, this portion doesn't end until either half of you report in or five days go by. Good luck, kiddies!"

Team Seven entered the tent, each of the three handing off their signed waivers to the proctors sitting at a table with Heaven scrolls and Earth scrolls. They were handed a Heaven scroll, the team naturally handing it to Naruto. He himself was confused, finding that he was the most foolish out of the three. "Why would you give me this? I'm the easiest to trick!"

"Be that as it may, you're the hardest to kill and the most stubborn. You won't give this up unless one of our lives depends on it, and you have the best chance of keeping us out of that situation." Sasuke said, Sakura nodding her agreement. "So keep it quiet, and remember to keep an eye out." After mulling it over, Naruto understood their logic and nodded his own agreement. With that, they left the tent and walked off to join the rest of the Genin waiting for the test to begin. After about five more teams went through the tent, Anko blew a whistle to gather attention.

"Alright, maggots! The proctors will designate each of you a gate to enter at, Suna Team One enters from here. Get going!" Anko called, Naruto smirking as the test was getting underway for real. While he was a bit wary of the unknown variables like Sunagakure and Kusagakure, he was more than ready for a challenge. Were he honest with himself, he'd find himself craving the challenge. As Team Seven was ushered to their position, they found themselves at the farthest gate. Naruto was growing impatient, Sasuke also showing a desire to get moving.

A moment later a horn blared out from loud-speakers that they hadn't paid any attention to, the gates opening to signal the exam's beginning. The three immediately took off at a high speed, hanging behind top speed for Sakura's sake. If one of them burned out early, they were done. Sakura had improved almost impossibly quickly in a single night, but given what the problems were, she was close enough to ten or twelve improvements that it was actually surprising that she needed any help at all.

The three had neither a contingency for a five-day survival test, nor for stealing from other ninja. Sasuke was the most likely to be sought out given his clan's reputation, so the three were prepared to fight three-on-three. However, all of their strategies lacked killing blows. And if they were going to obtain scrolls from other teams, Naruto and Sasuke were restricted from using their fire-based abilities.

Within about fifteen minutes, Naruto stopped short. He waited for the others to find stopping places, before he raised his left hand with three fingers and his thumb sticking up. In their decided code, this had meant that Naruto detected a strong level of anxiety from at least three people. He took point, leading them off to the right of their initial heading. As they closed in, Naruto took to the ground to play decoy. As he did, he felt the anxiety wane slightly and shift into confidence. He whistled loudly to signal the change, this signal meaning that someone confident had come within his range. He clapped his hands once to signal again as he came to a stop in a small clearing, this meaning to take cover and watch his flanks.

While he would've once been frustrated with another holding such a skill, Sasuke had taken on Naruto's optimistic thinking to a degree. So long as he had teammates, Sasuke need not be the most powerful in order to avenge his dead clan. As they waited a short amount of time, Naruto put his arms in a relaxed position behind his head as he tapped his foot.

"Geez, you'd think someone trying to pass would move a little bit quicker." Naruto said, looking around lazily. He felt a wave of chakra wash through the field, not extending upward to where Sasuke and Sakura hid. He continued to pretend he knew nothing about the situation as the most confident of the auras moved behind him. They approached slowly, as though not worried in the slightest. Another few seconds and Naruto could hear them breathing behind him, waiting for them to make some kind of actual move. However, all that happened was a boy walking up behind him as though he were untouchable. Naruto had his back to him, but he could feel the confidence overwhelming the area from this boy alone.

"Too easy." The voice was spoken through a respirator, Naruto hearing a metallic 'clink' as the boy reached his arm around to begin choking Naruto out. However, Naruto had grown tired of his own façade.

"Genjutsu, huh? Rookie move to assume it's worked." Naruto grabbed the boy's arm, gripping until he felt the bone while the boy cried out in agony. Naruto was a little surprised to feel a warm liquid dripping down his arm as he turned around, chuckling while he did. "What, a little pressure and you start to bleed? Are you sure you shouldn't have stayed in the academy?" As he got a look at him, Naruto saw that the boy had black hair with a Kirigakure headband upon his fore-head. Additionally was a respirator on his face and a yellow one-piece suit, having torn at the fore-arm where Naruto was crushing the boy. "Tch, shut up. You'll tell the whole forest we're here."

Naruto decided not to waste any more time than was needed, and threw the boy into a tree behind him. Hitting head-first, the boy was knocked out cold in this one move. Naruto waited while the confidence turned into fear, making the blond grin a bit to himself.

"Oh, come on! You run off to attack me, TRY to fool me, what's wrong with a straight fight?" Naruto asked, receiving nothing as an answer. He sighed, looking straight out to his left. "You know that you need all three of you to pass this test. You have to come out if you want to move on." Naruto had been impatient since the written exam, and at this stage he didn't actually have to wait. "I'll tell you this once, then I'll prove it, then you'll hand me your scroll. I know where you both are."

Naruto vanished, reappearing in the same position holding a second boy whose one-piece included a hood over his hair. He held the boy by his neck, this one slowly losing consciousness. "Stop it!" A third appeared from the foliage before Naruto, making the blond grin wider. "Let him go, I'll give you our scroll!" Naruto sighed, throwing the boy in hand into the same tree as the first. The boy in front of him held up a white scroll, Sasuke descending to land behind the boy, decking him as he tried to turn and look at him.

"Too bad, none of them actually gave a fight." Naruto said, Sasuke shaking his head as Sakura descended herself to land between the two.

"I'm more annoyed about-" Naruto whistled to cut her off, figuring she was about to mention the duplicate scroll. Sasuke whispered the problem with saying anything in Sakura's ear, the girl sighing. "That makes sense, but it still bugs me."

"Nothing to worry about, let's just get moving." Sasuke said, the three taking back to the trees with Naruto taking point again. The three were intent on reaching the tower before anyone got hungry, none of them comfortable with the thought of making camp with enemies about.

As they continued, Naruto sensed the sensations he'd felt on the Bridge months before, murderous intent laden with reluctance to follow through. It was hard for him to discern who was safe to attack, especially given the radical difference in ability he'd encountered initially. As he sensed six familiar auras, he found himself incapable of continuing past them. The other two trusted him not to lead them into too much danger, but he felt that he needed to protect one of these auras from the other. As they closed in the most malicious aura moved on, the other two following and confirming Naruto's hunch on their identities.

The three landed in the clearing, Naruto looking around as he focused on the malicious aura. He was certain that it was moving away, but for some reason… he felt like the danger hadn't waned at all. He looked off to his right, rubbing the back of his head with a goofy grin on his face. _'What am I doing?' _"Hey, sorry I'm late Hinata-chan! I was hoping to come help with those guys before they got your scroll!"

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, Sasuke smiling at the blond.

"What, you finally realize her looking at you all the time?" Sasuke asked, Naruto ignoring his friend while Team Eight came up from their hiding place in the bushes.

"But seriously guys… don't go anywhere near the Suna teams. The red-head who was just here might be the only big threat out of that village, but he's a crazy threat lemme tell you now." Naruto said, Hinata's face as red as a tomato while her teammates walked up ahead of her.

"Yeah right, like you'd know. I was meanin' to ask but I didn't want to draw much attention, what happened to your eyes Fox-boy?" One of Hinata's teammates was a feral boy name Inuzuka Kiba, his features extremely canine. He was sending Naruto a challenging grin, the blond returning that grin. "I always heard the Kyuubi had red eyes, so don't play it off as the fox in your gut."

"At least you can tell the difference." Naruto said, smiling gently at Hinata. "Sorry I've been so dense… we'll talk when we reach the tower, yeah?" Naruto asked, Hinata's aura giving off an incredible amount of her anxious-joy mixture. It didn't surprise him that Hinata fainted a moment later, but he was pleased to see her smiling in her stress-induced sleep. He noticed her teammates casting him disappointed looks, Naruto rubbing his head again. "Eh he, sorry about that guys. I promise, I didn't mean to do that."

"Long as you're serious about that talk you just offered her, I guess I can let you off the hook." Kiba said, getting in Naruto's face for a minute. "But I've known this girl since Akamaru and I were both pups, you'd best not hurt her."

"Furthest thought from my mind, promi-" Naruto cut himself short as a devious intent greater than anything he'd felt in the past four months began approaching radically swiftly. "Get the hell out of here, now. Something's coming." Kiba was about to argue, but their third teammate Aburame Shino grabbed his shoulder.

"He's right. Carry Hinata, it's time to go." Kiba wanted to argue, but Shino never joked about anything. Kiba grabbed their teammate and took off after Shino, a trio of Kusa nins appearing the instant they got away. Naruto kicked himself for deviating off of their plan, watching the three across from him closely. Before anyone could do anything, the nin taking point had spun around once with Kunai in either hand. In a spurt of blood, both of their teammates fell down dead. As the nin turned around, her laughter told them her gender. Naruto felt a sick elation coming from her, along with a very strong sense of accomplishment. The kind someone feels when they're getting away with something they shouldn't be doing…

"Why hello there, Sasuke-kun. I've been waiting SO long to meet you! The Kyuubi brat, however…" The Kusa-nin brought her hand to her mouth, before flipping it out flat as though blowing a kiss. From her mouth came an incredible whirlwind, Team Seven anchoring to the ground using chakra as though climbing trees. Naruto was suspicious of everyone, but as he felt out the nin's aura, he began to consider that her presence might've been the source of his unease throughout the exam thus far.

"What ABOUT me? You got a problem?" Naruto asked, glaring into the nin's eyes. As he did, she tilted her head in mild confusion. As he continued to focus on the nin's aura, he detected something familiar that he couldn't quite place. "What's wrong, huh? How about you come give us a REAL shot?"

The woman began laughing heartily, an unnaturally long tongue appearing as she licked her lips. "While I don't much like avoiding a challenge, this one I feel I must handle more appropriately. Wouldn't you allow me a chance to fight Sasuke-kun all alone? I promise, I'll leave the other two alone if you let me fight you… Sasuke-kun." The way she said 'Sasuke-kun' made Naruto's skin crawl inside and out, unfamiliar with such emotions as the ones she was giving off.

"What is it you want with me? It's clearly not as though you intend on passing with your teammates dead, so what?" Sasuke asked, the Kusa-nin grinning as she pulled out an Earth scroll.

"You need this one, right? You have a Heaven scroll?" She asked, holding it by the top with her fingertips as she threw her head back and opened her jaw wide. She began to lower it into her mouth, the scroll bulging against the top of her throat. It was at that moment that Sasuke appeared with his hands around her throat, Naruto behind him while Sakura was nowhere to be found. The Kusa-nin's eyes bulged in surprise, having known everything there was on record about all three. Uchiha Sasuke shouldn't have been NEARLY that quick, while Uzumaki Naruto had no chances of doing anything without the Kyuubi's help.

What the hell was going on? "As it happens…" with that lead-in, Sasuke and the Earth scroll both vanished as Naruto appeared a meter away from the woman with his arms crossed, "… yeah, we DID." The Kusa-nin cast him a glare filled with murderous intent, a purple aura holding a blend of chakra and demonic power emanating out from her. Naruto found himself surprised at the appearance of any other demonic powers, but it made sense that it came from one so strange and mysterious. "The Kyuubi isn't what you should be worrying about. Your first mistake was underestimating Sasuke."

"Well if that's the case, I'll just have to kill two birds with one stone, won't I?" The woman asked, appearing above Naruto with a long sword in hand. As she slashed with her power focused into the blade, she found herself caught on her own breath as Naruto caught the blade between his hands. "W-What?!"

"The second was underestimating ME!" Before she could react, Naruto had kicked her in the chin while back flipping away from her with the sword still held between his hands. It struggled to pull itself from his grip, a voice echoing out from it.

"_**How dare you! Release me, bring me back Snake! Undo the sin upon the heavens!" **_Naruto found himself profoundly confused, moving to grab the handle. Before he could, he felt something only Sasuke and Kakashi had managed since Nami.

A kick to the back, sending him face-first into the ground. He lifted himself up on his arms, shaking his head before he noticed the massive crater his impact had made. _'Who the hell is this bitch?!'_ Before he could get his answer he was kicked in his own chin, flying into a tree on the other side of the clearing. "You dare to strike me, you wretched demon?! If not for Sasuke-kun, I'd skewer you right here!" The Kusa-nin turned around, muttering to herself as Naruto looked over to her.

"Why…?" Naruto asked, finding himself out of breath for the first time since before Nami no Kuni. The Kusa-nin scoffed, walking over to finish knocking the blond out. "Why… why does your sword shout like that?" At that the Kusa-nin found herself surprised, looking at the sword in her hand. "Can't… can't you hear her crying?!" Naruto shouted now, feeling pure pain and heart-break laden with rage coming from the sword. It was as though it couldn't stand to be held by the woman, as though it made the sword feel dirty…

"Tch, cease your inane rambling. Maybe that's just the fox talking to you, after all, you're all it has anymore." The woman said, Naruto putting together the context of her words.

"All it has…" Naruto muttered to himself, the woman raising him by his neck and tightening her grip. "So I see… 'Release me'…"

"Too late for requests, brat! You're lucky I'm letting you live!" At that, Naruto's blazing aura appeared in a bright pulse. The woman was pushed back, her clothes and face both charred with the abhorrent smell of burning hair prevailing over the odor of burnt flesh. She looked up to Naruto, her eyes having become yellow snake eyes. Her grip tightened on her sword as Naruto's eyes shined with his fiery power, the boy raising his right hand toward the woman.

"**Release her… let her go right now!" **Naruto shouted, the woman being pulled in by a force she couldn't see. She tried to use the Kawarimi to get out of it, but she couldn't do anything with her chakra outside of her body. She felt the sword lift itself, before the tip turned and pulled the sword along with her arm into stabbing her own stomach. The woman's eyes bulged in surprise again, the sword shimmering with a bright golden aura. She looked into Naruto's eyes, finding herself terrified of the being before her. **"You took her from her home, and you bathed her in innocent blood! You have FORCED another to commit YOUR sins!"**

Naruto grabbed the pommel of the blade, the whole sword pulsing with a golden light before being absorbed into Naruto's aura. "My Kusanagi! You damned brat, how dare you ste-"

"**HOW DARE YOU CALL HER YOURS!" **Naruto couldn't tell why this upset him so much, but he found himself blinded by his sheer hatred of the being before him. With an unearthly roar heard throughout the entire forest, Naruto unleashed a flaming torrent of energy in a concentrated burst for twenty meters in front of him. As the energy burned the gargantuan trees, they began creaking and falling to the ground as the smoldering form of the 'woman' struggled to raise itself back to its feet.

"You damned brat… when we meet again, you will pay for what you've done here!" 'She' said, white fingers appearing from inside its burnt mouth. They pried the mouth open wide, a bleach white-skinned man appearing from within the mouth and pulling himself out as though shedding skin. "And once I've gotten Sasuke-kun… I'll come for you and that power you've got!" With that, five snakes several times the size of any of the trees appeared from the forest as the man jumped away. Naruto didn't know who he was, but he could feel a fierce determination prevailing over his desire for vengeance.

He needed to deal with these snakes and catch up to his team, there was no telling what the man was up to.


	5. Chapter 5

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 5 – Forbidden Inheritance

-0-

"What do we do about Naruto though? We can't just leave him!" Sakura shouted, Sasuke shaking his head.

"I can't explain it… but that guy's power is strange. There's something incredible about it, like Naruto's… but, you know how you feel happier when Naruto smiles, and almost cold when he uses his aura?" Sasuke asked, Sakura nodding affirmatively as she tried not to think about it. "It was like that… except it makes me paranoid. It makes me feel like someone's out to get us…"

"Quite perceptive, Sasuke-kun. I knew that I'd chosen you well." A man with pure white skin and purple face-paint appearing from out of the shadows ahead of them, Sasuke recognizing the man's energy.

"Dammit, get out of here!" Sasuke shouted to Sakura, taking his Interceptor stance as he molded his chakra around his legs and hips. The man reappeared in front of Sasuke, the young ninja side-stepping quickly enough to evade his grasp. What Sasuke had not predicted was the man's neck extending as he opened his mouth to reveal vampire-like fangs. In that moment of surprise, the man caught Sasuke on his shoulder with a vicious bite. As he did, an ominous purple aura burst from the white-skinned man, flowing into the point he bit Sasuke.

Sasuke was incapable of reacting, his face and mind completely overloaded with literally mind-numbing pain. From Sakura's viewpoint, it looked as though he were going into shock from the event. As the man's head receded to his body, he smirked triumphantly before a golden light shot out from the woods and through his head. It continued into the tree trunk behind Sasuke, the light fading to reveal a long sword with a golden aura about it. Naruto appeared over the man's body, a frustrated scowl across his face with his jacket drenched in some kind of blood. To his distaste, it dissolved into mud.

"Of course my first fun fight would be with a total bastard… wish I could've killed him and not a damn clone!" Naruto normally didn't have to worry about Sasuke, but even Naruto recognized when someone required medical attention. Naruto rushed to Sasuke, draping his arms over his shoulders and carrying him on his back. He looked up to Sakura, who immediately took point as the two searched for a safe place to nurse Sasuke back to health.

Before even five minutes went by, they'd found a tree with a hollowed out trunk at its base. It was probably from survival training or a previous Chuunin Exam if this method was common enough. Naruto wasn't comfortable at all with spending time waiting, but they didn't seem to have a choice. Sakura worked at building a fire to try and boil water, meanwhile Naruto sat against the tree with his jacket taken off, uncomfortable in the bloody garment. He was frustrated about his jacket being ruined, and before he was aware of what he was doing a wave of orange energy washed over it and made it ignite. That seemed to snap him more awake, looking over to Sakura.

"So… what seems to be going on?" Naruto asked, Sakura sighing. She dampened a rag, wringing it out and folding it over before setting it on Sasuke's forehead.

"I don't know. At this point all I've got is an old trick my mom uses to bring my fevers down when I'm sick, I'm hoping it'll help him in some way." Sakura said, sitting down next to Sasuke with a worried look. "Where'd that other sword come from?"

"I didn't see her- ugh, didn't see HIM draw it, I only took it. But when I intercepted his first attack, I heard his sword shouting about him. It was saying to take her back." Naruto said, Sakura smiling softly.

"Take HER back, huh? Is it common for you to think of swords that way?" Sakura asked, Naruto chuckling lightly as he focused his energy around his right hand and thought about the Kusanagi. As it reappeared in his hand, he finally took a moment to look closer at the long sword in his hands. It had two gold snake-heads for a hilt, a green gem shining between them at the base of the pure silver blade. The handle was purple, the pommel a gold point. "Well… SHE is a beautiful sword, I'll give you that."

Naruto smiled, feeling a sword of longing coming from the sword. Before he could try to identify it further, the sword took on a golden aura and began floating upward and over, settling above Sasuke. A purple demonic aura began emanating from a black mark on Sasuke's shoulder looking strangely similar to Kakashi's Sharingan eye. The sword began glowing more brightly, the demonic aura reaching up to the sword and trying to wrap around its own aura. The sword released a pulse of its energy, before plunging straight down and into Sasuke's sternum.

Still unconscious, he jerked upward against the sword. At that, the mark on his shoulder began to glow the same brilliant golden shade as the sword did. The sword's length became blinding white, shifting in shape to resemble a very simple katana. When it was finished, it was a gold-handled katana with purple handle-wrappings and neither a pommel nor a hilt. As the light faded, the strange-shaped mark shifted shape as well into an outline of the Uchiha clan symbol, a fan like the one on the back of Sasuke's shirt. After this occurred, Sasuke floated to the ground as the sword turned into a golden aura that was swept into the symbol on Sasuke's neck.

As the aura finished flowing into his neck, Sasuke's eyes began to slowly open. As he did, they held a golden tint for a few seconds before they returned to normal. He looked around before he sat up, noticing the bloody hole in the middle of his shirt. He looked back to Naruto with a puzzled look. "Did I… get stabbed?"

"… Pretty much." Naruto said, Sasuke continuing to give him a puzzled look. "Well, you had a fever and seemed to be out really roughly 'cause of what appears to be some demonic mark that pale guy gave you. Sakura was doing what she could about the fever, and we got to talking about a sword I took from the guy." Naruto said, holding his left hand out and summoning the sword he got from Zabuza. "Then something like what happened with this sword went down. The new one floated over you, and then a demonic aura came out of that mark. The sword kinda countered with its own aura, but then it… well, impaled you… right there…"

Naruto was having a little difficulty keeping all of the facts straight in his head, especially with his own power as an unknown variable. Sakura continued from there, "The sword changed shape from a long sword into a sort of katana, except with a handle lacking a hilt and pommel. The mark on your shoulder also changed shape to look like the fan on your shirt, and then the sword turned into golden energy and got pulled into the mark. Then you and the mark stopped glowing and you woke up." Sasuke looked at the two in a bit of disbelief, before he took stock of how he felt. It seemed to be similar to the story Naruto told him about the fight on the Bridge after he was put into a near-death state by the Hunter-nin.

He didn't actually have much trouble believing he survived being impaled with the way he felt, it seemed as though he were much stronger than before. On top of which, instead of his chakra he felt a new, much more powerful energy that he could almost use more easily than chakra already. As he manipulated the energy to try and feel it out, he felt something appear in his right hand. Looking down, he found himself surprised to see a sword there. It felt like it had no weight at all, at least not that Sasuke was able to detect. He looked at how Naruto easily moved his massive blade around swiftly, and now he had a better idea of what it was like.

"As far as I can sense… you've somehow become like me. With me it seems like the Kyuubi's seal somehow caused its energy to corrupt my chakra. Best I can tell is that I've become a demon in some way, at least partially. I can still feel all my old emotions, so I'm pretty sure I still have a lot of human in me." Naruto said, sighing as he looked down at his sword. "Still, it'd be better to just tell people you discovered a secret family technique or something. The Kyuubi's kinda been my scapegoat these past few months, ironic as that might seem."

Sakura rubbed her temples, having developed a stress headache from all of the things that had happened in the past hour since the exam started. "We should get going, we still don't know much about that Snake guy or if he'll come back." Sakura said, looking out into the forest with a good amount of worry. Naruto nodded, looking over to Sasuke.

"Careful about this, Sasuke. While that bastard's influence seems overwhelmed, we don't exactly know anything about that sword you've got there." Naruto said, seeing his friend nod. Sasuke took point, the three heading off toward the center of the forest at top speed.

-0-

As the group approached the tower, Sasuke too began to feel the rest of the contestants through their emotions. It seemed as though their feelings came from and manipulated an energy that was everywhere, like a stone making waves when dropped into a still lake. Some were unaware, like the other ninja who moved with no regard to this 'rippling'. Others, like Naruto and the animals, avoided those who gave off distasteful feelings for the sake of a safer route. Unfortunately, his desire for combat had grown to almost itch at the back of his mind.

Before they knew it, Team Seven had arrived at the tower of Training Ground Forty-four. Not wanting to be ambushed for their scrolls, the three entered hastily. Sasuke was completely blown away by all of the sensations that he could now sense, along with the otherworldly energy that seemed to have replaced his chakra. As Sasuke took in his new state of being, Naruto and Sakura were puzzling over what to do next. Naruto took out his scroll, the Heaven scroll. Meanwhile, Sakura walked to where Sasuke stood staring off into space.

"Sasuke? We need the other scroll, Mitarashi-san said we need both to continue." Sasuke snapped back into reality, listlessly pulling the scroll from his pouch and tossing it deftly across the room to Naruto. The blond caught it, unrolling both and looking at them. He tilted his head before Sakura caught something.

"Hey, see the kanji here? They're slanted in either direction, on each scroll. It looks like we should overlap them there!" Sakura's confidence was re-affirmed, seeing another proof of how helpful her gifted intellect could contribute to her teammates. As Naruto heeded her suggestion, the scrolls burst with a puff of smoke. When it cleared, their academy teacher Umino Iruka stood across from them with a look of surprise on his face.

"Huh? How in the world did you make it here so fast? You broke the old completion record!" Iruka said, honest astonishment evident on his face.

"What can I say? Sasuke and I've had our differences set aside in training the last few months. Teamwork really paid off for us!" Naruto said, giving his personally extra-wide grin. "And Sakura helped too! She's the one who figured out how to set the scrolls!" Sasuke, however, had taken a different part of Iruka's surprised greeting into focus.

"What do you mean 'old record'?" Sasuke asked, Iruka getting a more serious look on his face. Moreover, Sasuke and Naruto both felt a concentrated wave of fear from him before he buried it with sheer willpower.

"The Suna Team arrived ten minutes ago. While you guys did too, they beat the old record by two whole days." Iruka shook it off, continuing to smile as he waved them toward the door leading them further in. "This whole place is a bunker, the food's not too great but it'll keep you going while you wait for the end of the test."

"Yeah, and unless they'll be accounting for the extra scrolls, we'll be waiting all five days. We found an opportunity to eliminate an extra team's way in." Sasuke said, Naruto raising and waving the extra Heaven scroll around a bit. Iruka found he was surprised to hear so many words coming from Sasuke, but decided to simply take it as improvement.

As the three went out into the hallway, Iruka led them down to a room marked simply with a number Two. Within they found four cots, three made up with proper furnishings. "It's not much, but it should be more comfortable than sleeping outside. Good work on making it here so quickly, how'd you do it?" Naruto and Sakura looked to Sasuke, their dark-haired teammate the only one who obviously might be affected by the truth being spoken.

"A few people wanted to come after me because of my clan's reputation. They weren't ready for an Uchiha to value teamwork." Sasuke said, technically not lying. Relying on Naruto's temper and resilience might be cowardly were it just for his sake, but he kept Sakura out of the line of fire AND secured the Earth scroll for the team. It was probably Sasuke's quick thinking that allowed them to reach the tower with only the one incident.

"Excellent work! I knew that you guys would benefit each other, you both bring the best of the ninja world to the table!" Iruka said, catching a puzzled look from Naruto while Sasuke smiled graciously at the compliment.

"He means that I have natural talent, and you have sheer determination which brought our level up. You're getting smarter, and I'm getting stronger to put it more simply." Sasuke said, Naruto scoffing at him.

"I understood you the first time, I'm getting smarter REMEMBER?" Naruto asked, putting on a joking grin as Sasuke and Sakura began to laugh. Iruka walked off with a proud smile, over-joyed at the progress they'd made in just half a year since graduating the academy. As the door closed, however, Team Seven looked at each other with very serious looks present between them. "We need to go directly to the Hokage, there's no way we can risk anyone but him hearing about this bastard unless we know who he is."

"Actually, I might've figured it out." Sakura said, Naruto grinning while Sasuke simply looked her in the eyes calmly. She was slightly puzzled at his look, feeling a sensation like when Naruto would laugh and bring everyone's spirits up. However, this sensation was calming. Sharpening, as though her thoughts were being brought into perfect focus. "The Sandaime might still be our only bet though… he moved his head like a snake at you, right Sasuke?"

"I remember the searing pain from the bite more clearly than the events just beforehand… but I definitely remember seeing his eyes. They were yellow, with vertically-slit pupils like a snake." Sasuke said, Naruto adding definitive proof a moment later.

"Actually, more than moving like it. I charred him up, completely burnt that female body he was wearing. I mean, I thought it was a Henge technique, but it was actually a body like a second skin!" Naruto said, Sasuke scowling at the image that popped into his head. "On top of that, I got held up by five gigantic Snakes that appeared from out of nowhere. Any chance that those were under his control?" Naruto asked, Sakura nodding with a terrified look in her eye.

"The odds are incredibly high th-that… the man we faced was one of the Sandaime Hokage's students… the Hebi-sennin Orochimaru of the Sannin…" Sakura said the name as though it would conjure the man, sheer terror filling the room. "It's said that each of the Sannin could go toe-to-toe with any of the Kage in the whole world… and probably win." Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, both feeling an undeniable sense of pride at having held their own for so long. It was then that Sakura continued on. "I'm going to go find the Sandaime, this would probably be the only time that I could seek him out in person and if either of you are seen heading there then Orochimaru will know something's going on. This way… this way there's a slim chance we get away with it."

Naruto growled a bit at the idea of staying hidden even more, but Sasuke leveled a stare at him that almost audibly said 'calm down and think.' Their individual demonic natures seemed quite different, which might have mislead Naruto as to the nature of Sasuke's power had he not felt the sword's own powers first. While it was benevolent and loyal to its cause, the sword's power was definitely demonic in nature.

"Alright… so basically, you want us to bum around while we wait for the next stage of the exams to begin except for you going to talk with Jiji?" Naruto asked, Sakura balking at him as Sasuke couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's crass nickname for the village's Leader.

"Naruto, that's the Hokage! Shouldn't you act a little more respectful?!" Sakura asked, having always been raised to respect all forms of authority. Naruto laughed pleasantly, shaking his head.

"Sakura, that's how I've always known him. He didn't call me on it as a little kid, and lucky me he lets me keep calling him that. Besides, he was the one who was usually there for me when I really needed help. He's like family to me." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head while Sasuke smiled sadly at the statement. "Lucky me I've got you guys too, I've pretty much got a real family thanks to you guys!" Naruto said, his grin returning as he laughed. Sasuke's mood lifted, and Sakura found herself understanding exactly why the Hokage might be willing to allow Naruto's nickname.

"Anyhow, yes Naruto. That's the plan." Sakura said, Sasuke sighing as he nodded his head.

"I don't like having to tip-toe around visitors in our own village, but I guess there's nothing we can do. I'm not gonna risk everything when we're just starting to REALLY progress in our careers." Sasuke said, laying down on his cot and looking up at the ceiling. "We probably shouldn't practice any more than the basics while we're here, no telling who's watching. For that matter, we should probably be careful about what we say in these rooms. These walls can't be sound-proofed too well." Sasuke said, closing his eyes as he thought back on the exams so far.

Naruto decided to go for a walk, maybe chat with Iruka for a while. As they resolved for the rest of the exams, Team Seven proceeded to begin waiting for something to happen as their female member sought out Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage.

-0-

"How did Sasuke-kun fare, Orochimaru-sama?" This question came from Kabuto, speaking to the pale man who stood against a shaded wall. Orochimaru stood up straight, wincing as he did so. "Are you alright, Orochimaru-sama? Have you been hurt?!"

"Nothing to worry about, Kabuto. Sasuke put up quite the fight, his friendship with the Kyuubi brat seems to have driven him to improve. If we wish to sway him to our side, we'll have to show him that I can offer far more power than even Uzumaki can muster from the fox." Orochimaru laughed darkly at the plans that crossed through his mind, eager to see the boys play out his story. "Soon, everything will be in place. And then, not even Sarutobi-sensei will be able to stand against me. Also…" Orochimaru appeared in front of Kabuto punching the young man to the ground, "… your intel was far from complete. Uzumaki has tapped into the fox's chakra in an integral manner. As he is, it's almost as though he were born a demon himself."

"That… is troubling indeed. I will do my best to continue to seek out weaknesses in the boy's abilities before they figure me out. I offered them valuable information regarding Gaara, I feel that they'll trust me soon if they don't already." Kabuto said kneeling before his master, Orochimaru smiling in satisfaction.

"Excellent, Kabuto. Now, get back to your 'team'. You have a ruse to sell." Orochimaru walked off down the hallway, vanishing around the corner as Kabuto left through a door back into the Forest of Death.

-0-

"So what you're trying to tell me is that Sasuke was attacked by Orochimaru? And after branding him with some kind of seal, a new weapon that Naruto obtained from Orochimaru severely altered its nature?" Sarutobi was certain that the girl would tell him the truth, but he was sincerely hoping that Sakura was exaggerating something.

"That's correct, Hokage-sama. Naruto and Sasuke are both confident that he's ok, in fact improved. I can even attest that I don't see any threat or unstable behavior from him since the mark was changed." Sakura said, the Hokage sighing as he scratched the back of his head. "I know that it's a possible threat to the village… but I'm certain that Sasuke is still in control of himself and his strength."

Sarutobi was a wise old man, a requisite for a ninja that managed to grow old at all. He mulled it over a bit longer, before nodding and responding to the young Genin. "I will keep its origin in mind… but will not disqualify him from the exam. Be warned Sakura-san, you're responsible for any Konoha casualties that result from that seal's presence." Sarutobi waved his hand, Sakura recognizing her dismissal and bowing respectfully. She turned and began walking away, heading back toward room Two to get some rest of her own. The stress of running from Orochimaru in the forest only increased when she learned of just how lucky they'd gotten, her body screaming for some sleep.

It would be a long wait by even her patient standards if the record had been two days later. And what was frustrating for her was the fact that they really couldn't train any personal techniques where people could watch. While Sasuke was the only contestant with a Sharingan, Naruto had demonstrated his own knack for mimicking techniques after seeing them. It wouldn't be too hard for someone to pick apart Sakura's only personal techniques.

And so, Team Seven began their wait for the ending of the test. Luckily for them, they would not have to wait terribly long for the other contestants to arrive.


	6. Chapter 6

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 6 – Inhuman Strength

-0-

Three days had passed since Team Seven arrived within the tower to complete the second portion of the Chuunin Exams. Finally, it had been announced that everyone had arrived and the second exam was at a close. For all three days Team Seven had done nothing but routine exercises and simple chakra control exercises. While Sasuke definitely needed to practice with his new power, these exercises really weren't enough for him to get comfortable using his jutsu with his new energy.

Naruto had been practicing for quite a while, and unfortunately it was only due to his Kage Bunshin technique that he was able to make any clones, and his demonic energy could only form one stable clone. However, it could withstand quite a substantial amount of damage before being destroyed. Moreover, its form detonated anytime it was dispelled without Naruto absorbing its energy. Sakura only had to keep her basics sharp, but with the variety of opponents still in the exams, she was wary of what kind of challenge might come next. To top off, she still hadn't had a chance to offer any actual assistance in the exams so far. Hopefully she could help in whatever portion came next.

Naruto tried to pay attention as the Hokage began a speech, but he couldn't help but look about at the crowd and ignore the Elder ninja. He noticed Kabuto remained in the exams, along with Teams Eight and Ten. He also saw the Oto team, along with the ones who'd beaten them to the tower; Suna Team One. As he found himself fixated on Gaara, he failed to notice everyone around him walking away until the Red-head also began walking toward stairs. Naruto had completely missed whatever was going on, and looked around before running after Sakura.

He looked behind him and saw a large monitor with two names illuminated upon it. "Akado Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke" seemed to be a battle match-up, Sasuke shaking his head in mild embarrassment with his teammates occasional cluelessness. He stood parallel from the Konoha ninja across from him, the boy wearing simple shades with a purple and gray outfit much like Kabuto's. Sasuke didn't need to know how to feel out an aura to know that this guy thought he had the upper hand.

Sasuke was certainly going to enjoy this. A rather sickly-looking ninja raised his right hand, before dropping his hand straight down and proclaiming aloud, "Begin!"

The slightly taller boy waited a moment, Sasuke standing calmly across from him. It was logical that there would be a portion of the exam in which they would be tested individually, but an elimination-style tourney was definitely not at the top of Team Seven's list of contingency plans. While Sasuke watched the boy, he noticed Yoroi feeling extremely confident. Sasuke was now beginning to get a grasp on exactly how it was that Naruto was able to predict his changes in tactics.

Now, as Yoroi grew impatient and charged Sasuke, the Uchiha felt Yoroi's overwhelming glee. Crossing the two meters between them, Yoroi reached out with an open hand to try and grip Sasuke. The dark-haired boy vanished from Yoroi's sight, before he was knocked into the wall by a vicious roundhouse to his back. Standing with his back to the beaten boy, Yoroi struggled to push himself to his feet. When he collapsed back to the ground, the proctor called the match. "Winner by knockout, Uchiha Sasuke. Please go up to the railing for the next fight." The man couldn't seem to get a sentence out without coughing, his health seeming extremely subpar.

As Sasuke made his way to the stairs, he looked up to the monitor to see what battle would occur next. While it was widely expected that he would continue with ease, he was eager to see who Naruto ended up fighting against. The monitor's randomization settled on another pair of names, Sasuke sighing as the suspense began to build.

"Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku, please take your places." The proctor said, Naruto disregarding the next battle in favor of talking with Sasuke.

"Nice work, but you finished that a little quickly. Don't you think we should stay wary of people getting interested?" Naruto asked, Sasuke shaking his head.

"We've already gotten the attention of the type we were avoiding. I figure it's time to stop holding back so much." Sasuke said, Sakura sitting against the wall lost in her thoughts. Usually she became elated when he got close, but all he could sense was anxiety and disappointment. "What's with Sakura? She's acting… unusual."

"I think she's depressed about how far we're progressing without her… I keep trying to hold her spirits up, but something tells me she needs to prove something to herself." Naruto said, sighing as their sensei walked over to them. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, we could use your help after the exams are finished. Sakura seems to need some help training." Naruto looked at his old crush with worry, and then back at Kakashi with hope in his eyes. "I know that we'd never work out, but she's my friend and our teammate. I don't like seeing her like this."

"That's natural, Naruto. It's very caring of you to bring it to my attention." Kakashi said, looking to the girl himself. "I don't really have much that can help set her apart, but I can definitely give her a little one-on-one focus during our team training. According to Hokage-sama, Sasuke's become a bit more like you now." Kakashi said, Naruto nodding while Sasuke smiled. "This will certainly help you train more effectively, but I implore you to be careful. We still don't truly know the fox's role in all of this."

"We've always kept that fact in mind, Sensei." Sasuke responded, Naruto nodding as he watched Shino corner Zaku, a teammate of the Oto-nin who'd attacked Kabuto before the exams. "What I'm worried about is that both events that did this came directly from this Orochimaru. Naruto identified the sword as a separate being, though." Sasuke said, Kakashi looking to Naruto in mild surprise. "And come to think of it… when I first woke up I could swear I felt something just like that from his sword."

"You two, follow me, now." Kakashi said, turning to walk away. When he got four steps away and heard nothing, he saw Naruto and Sasuke both standing next to Sakura. "We need to talk. This is growing too suspicious."

"Damn whoever wants to listen, but if we leave this area then Orochimaru doesn't even have to try and follow. What if it's a vendetta of some form? Couldn't he come after Sakura while we're gone?" Naruto asked, Sasuke continuing on with another viewpoint.

"Additionally, doesn't it seem strange for you to take us away from the exam fights? We're supposed to stay until each of us have fought, and I'm the only one. We should wait until our next training session to get into this, or at least do so in the Hokage's office." Sasuke turned away from their sensei, seeing Zaku's arms explode with chakra from the center. The nerves all burned in the energy burst, his arms falling uselessly to his sides as Shino's bugs advanced on him. The proctor called the match, Kakashi returning to them with a sigh.

"There you go making sense again. I miss when my genin were easy to trick." Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head and pulling out his little orange book.

"You also miss not having to train genin at all." Sasuke answered, finding himself slightly confused with the man. He supposed that the man's worry was fair, but he seemed to care more for Sasuke and Naruto than Sakura. Perhaps it was Naruto's influence over their friendship, but Sasuke found that to be a little unsettling. "I wonder who you'll be up against, Naruto. From the looks of the room, you could end up against almost anyone we were interested in fighting."

"Yeah, too bad you had that unknown guy. You notice his clothes?" Sasuke nodded, looking over to the other boy wearing such attire.

"Kabuto's teammates, it seems. That guy…" Sasuke was suspicious of everything pertaining to Kabuto, his intent having remained unclear to Team Seven as a whole. It was then Naruto remembered something.

"Hey, where is Kabuto, anyway?" Naruto asked, Sasuke chuckling at the blond.

"You were zoning out about something, Hayate-san gave everyone a choice to forfeit without messing up their teammates chances of advancing. It was part of his explanation?" Sasuke was given a thoroughly confused look, as though some important part of it was escaping his grasp.

"Hayate-san? Who the hell's that?" Naruto asked, Sasuke sighing tiredly.

"The proctor, his name's Hayate. You need to avoid zoning out, someone could've slit your throat without you noticing." Sasuke said, watching the monitor as it began randomizing another pair of names.

"Sabaku no Kankuro and Tsurugi Misumi, please take your places." This match-up intrigued Naruto, making him want to get a look at Kankuro's abilities. Hopefully he'd find out what the deal with the bundle the boy wore was.

Sakura came out of her funk to a degree, Sasuke sensing her press her anxiety down beneath a sense of responsibility. He turned to look at her, meeting eyes with the girl. Her crush on him would serve her no good, and only served to bother Sasuke, but that wasn't what he saw. She seemed… apologetic. Almost as though she wished she could offer him something he needed. He supposed that it was because of her admittedly limited role in the team to that point coupled with her crush, probably exacerbated by his and Naruto's incredible progress.

Before he could look back to the fight, Sasuke noticed the monitor randomizing yet another pair of names. As they settled, he found himself relieved that Sakura had become aware of herself. "Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, please take your places." Sakura hear Ino cheering from somewhere to her right, the pink-haired girl feeling her heart fall to the floor.

'_First I have to ride by on Naruto and Sasuke's abilities, now I have to fight my first actual friend? Why… why do I have to be so helpless?' _Sakura found herself dragging her feet as she went toward the stairs at the end of the balconies, Naruto following alongside her as he sensed her sudden dread.

"Hey, what the hell Sakura? You've got this! It's Ino, no matter who wins you'll both come out of this fine!" Naruto said, doing his best to encourage his teammate. He noticed a tear fall from Sakura's eye, the girl biting her lips. "… you know he does care, right?"

Sakura stopped for a moment, looking at Naruto with shock. "W-What do you mean? I just d-don't want to fight my oldest friend! I… I don't want to embarrass you guys if I lose… w-when I lo-"

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed with his hands on her shoulders. "Sasuke doesn't know what you're feeling. He's never had a crush on anyone, he only ever had training. A lot like how you never had training and always had your crush. Look at what I did before all of this, I only had my guts to keep me going! So use that pain you're feeling, try and give him a reason to care more and give yourself a reason to fight harder!" Naruto said, grinning in his jubilant way. She choked back her tears, nodding with a new air of determination about her. She walked with a strong sense of purpose, doing her best to forget her insecurities and focus on her pains.

'_I never took my training seriously… neither of us did, we only cared about Sasuke. While he and Naruto were getting stronger, I went around doing chores and pampering myself… Naruto's right. I need to give myself a chance… and if I lose, then I'll just need to train. If I keep losing, I'll train harder!' _Sakura arrived across from Ino, the platinum-blonde holding her hands on her hips and puffing her chest out proudly.

"You ready to get beat, Forehead? I'll kick your ass into the dirt in front of Sasuke-kun and everyone else!" Ino said loudly, Hayate waiting several moments to see Sakura focusing on Ino's form. He decided to start it, satisfied that they were prepared to fight one another. As he raised his hand, Sakura hunched down into a brawling stance that Sasuke had helped Naruto iron out.

"Begin." Sakura did nothing, waiting for Ino to make the first move. As she threw a heavy punch, Sakura remembered her training with her teammates the night before the exams. As she jumped backward, Sakura began to concentrate her chakra into her legs and feet. She dodged a roundhouse from Ino, the blonde exhausting far more energy than she needed with the motion. Sakura studied the way Ino was moving, how she twitched her opposite leg with her punches, and how she always threw her whole weight into her motions. As the backed up beneath the balcony, Ino thought that she finally had a chance to start landing some hits. Focusing her chakra into her fist, Ino put all of her weight into a punch aimed for Sakura's chest as the girl found her back against the wall.

-flash-

_Sasuke continued gently side-stepping Naruto's movements, the boy's brawling a perfect example of wasting strength with missed punches. As they came to a boulder, Sasuke saw Naruto zooming at him through his Sharingan. While Naruto moved beyond standard sight, his eyes allowed Sasuke to react instinctively and dodge the punch. With all of his weight behind the attack, Naruto went launching into the boulder Sasuke had positioned himself in front of. His hand became lodged within, the blond boy shouting in pain and frustration._

-flash-

Sakura moved quickly enough that Ino could barely follow her. While far slower than Naruto or Sasuke, Sakura used the boys' trick to quickstep around her opponent and flip upside down. As her hips came parallel with Ino's shoulders, Sakura released the pent-up chakra and momentum with a double-footed kick into the back of Ino's head. The blonde was completely unprepared, smashing her face brutally against the concrete wall. The girl slumped to the ground, rolling over onto her back as Sakura watched carefully.

After a few seconds she was satisfied that Ino had missed her chance to escape the hit with Kawarimi, Hayate also accepting the apparent situation. "Winner by knockout, Haruno Sakura." Sakura rushed down to look at Ino, worried about her old friend's well-being. Any time she saw Naruto make such a move, even boulders crumbled beneath his attacks. Hayate noticed her concern, calling over to her. "She'll be fine, maybe a broken nose. Don't worry about it." Sakura wasn't too trusting of the man, but with no medical training she was forced to accept his word for it. She did her best to center herself, walking off toward the stairs. When she reached them, she found Naruto and Sasuke standing with smiles.

"I told you! That was totally one of Sasuke's tactics!" Naruto said loudly, all but jumping with joy at the immediate payoff of her training with them. "You see? Your brain's just as great as anything else we could practice! You've just gotta keep training to expand the kinds of strategies you could pull off!" Sasuke found himself feeling proud, having seen their weakest teammate use his tactics to beat Ino. Maybe it was how annoying they could be when pining for attention, but Sasuke was personally gratified as Ino's face hit the wall.

"Great job, Sakura." Sasuke said, both boys feeling the girl's aura swell with pride and joy. She ran up and hugged them both with either arm, Naruto returning the hug while Sasuke looked completely shocked. He very slowly and uncomfortably patted her on the back, the girl legitimately skipping up the stairs and along the balcony to their sensei. Kakashi patted her shoulder reassuringly, his closed eye indicating a smile beneath his mask.

As the other two returned to Kakashi and Sakura, they saw the monitor settle on the next pair of names. "Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin, please take your places." Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had any idea what kind of a fighter Shikamaru was, both boys very interested in the fight. While the two ninjas made their way to Hayate, Naruto failed to keep his curiosity in check.

"So what can Shikamaru even do, anyway? Is this even gonna be an interesting fight?" Naruto asked, Sasuke shrugging uncertainly. Naruto looked to Sakura, who was apparently thinking about it.

"I don't really know either, he wasn't first or last in anything back at the Academy. I guess this fight'll be a surprise." Sasuke was very interested in learning what kind of tactics there were that he might not have considered, having suspected Shikamaru was holding back in the academy. It seemed that he would find out if he was right, today.

"Begin." Hayate said, Naruto growing disinterested as the two stood waiting for each other to make a move. He turned away from the match to look around at the people on the balcony, noticing that they'd been standing next to Team Eight the whole time. As his gaze reached Hinata, she quickly turned away with a deep blush on her face. Naruto sighed and walked over, scratching the back of his head while he tried to think of something to say.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Naruto looked to Kiba and Shino, hoping to come up with something to say before he began to seem rude. Kiba looked back at him before chuckling, turning to face the blond.

"Not a whole lot, but we could've used a little help getting a Heaven scroll. Word is that you guys had a spare before you had us leave." Kiba said, getting in Naruto's face with a feral grin. "You wouldn't be tryin to hurt our chances, would you Dead-last?"

"Haven't heard that name since the academy," Naruto said, a challenging grin appearing on his face, "so what if we were? That last portion was a competition in survival, wouldn't have been right to deprive you of the challenge. Why, your feet sore Dog-breath?" Naruto asked, Kiba keeping his expression before he closed his eyes laughing. He patted Naruto on the back as he turned back toward his teammates, leaving his arm draped over Naruto's shoulder.

"You hear that, guys? The Dead-last found a sense of humor! Why weren't you funny like this back at the academy, Fox-boy?" Kiba didn't really seem to be trying to insult Naruto, and luckily the blond simply took it as the feral boy's way of showing camaraderie. Shino simply stared at the two, his expression and mood unclear even to Naruto. The boy's level of self control was almost terrifying. Meanwhile, Naruto felt a very strong sense of anxiety completely burying all other emotions coming from Hinata. He decided that it was time to start thinking of a little more than his ninja career, just for a minute, and directed his next statement toward Hinata.

"So, Hinata, anything interesting happen in the forest? We didn't have much chance to talk before you… before you got exhausted and fainted." Naruto knew what had happened, but for her sake decided to try and be as gentle as he could. Kiba got off of Naruto, turning his focus to the match and actively ignoring the blond. Shino kept his eye on Naruto, but also directed his attention to the match. And to blatantly stick them alone, the Team Eight sensei Kurenai went over to 'talk' to Kakashi about not reading smut in public.

"N-n-nothing really h-happened, we f-found a scroll on a team that made c-camp near us. K-Kiba-kun and Akamaru let us know a-and we went s-straight here after." Hinata said, her stutter causing her anxiety to rise further. "Y-y-you said we'd talk w-when we w-w-were both here, N-Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah I did, but you seem real flustered so I want you to take your time with it. Is that ok?" Naruto asked, receiving a fervent nod in response. He smiled when he felt her anxiety drop a tad. "Well… you know how my eyes changed?" Another nod. "The same time that happened I started to see things more clearly. I started worrying a little less, started training a lot harder. And… I started paying attention to how people feel. I noticed during the first portion that you care… you care a lot more than a normal friend would." Naruto said, seeing her face deepen in shade as her aura intensified.

"Y-yes! Naruto-k-kun I l-l-lo-, I l-l-l-" Naruto cut her off, not believing that she would get the words out before she fainted again.

"I know." Naruto smiled gently, calmly looking into her shaking eyes as she struggled to get a grip on her nerves. "It's ok, I don't mind in anyway. I just… I notice that you look at me the way Sakura and Ino look at Sasuke. I want you to know that it isn't me disliking you; I just… don't know what that's like. You know… feeling the way you do. I've… never felt that. Not really." Hinata's anxiety fell further than he'd ever seen before, confusion filling its place immediately. "If you really care about trying, then we should start hanging out during free time. Like, maybe go to lunch after the exams?"

A large smile crossed Hinata's lips, the girl hugging Naruto in a sudden break from her usually reserved self. Naruto laughed as he returned the hug, the girl's exceptionally potent joy influencing his own mood greatly. There was something different about her aura, something that just made her seem… different was the only word Naruto had for it. He could compare the way Sakura's happiness made him feel, and her aura never bolstered his own; much less to this degree.

"So should I take that as a yes then?" Hinata nodded into his shoulder, not willing to break the embrace now that she'd finally been acknowledged. Naruto couldn't help but laugh, finding himself grateful for the girl's persistence. As she finally released him, he looked to the stage to see a different pair fighting than he'd remembered. "Hey, dog-breath, did I miss something? I thought Shikamaru was up!"

"You missed it. And what a trick, too! That Shikamaru… he's really smart!" Kiba said, looking back to Naruto. "Let me be the first to warn you, if you make Hinata cry, then I'll kick your ass with or without your little fox!" Kiba said, his face for once serious and firm. Naruto nodded, not fazed by the boy's attempt at intimidation. Naruto watched the match and realized he'd met both of them peripherally, the blond fighter being Sabaku no Temari with Suna Team One while her opponent was Lee's teammate, Tenten from Konoha Team Nine. With a swing of her fan conjuring a whirlwind, Temari rendered Tenten unconscious and won their fight.

Naruto was impressed with the sheer force behind the attack, never having personally considered the wind element to be terribly effective in combat. It seemed that he had a lot to learn about fighting, which only served to make him more eager to fight. His urges were satisfied as he saw his name appear on the monitor, the second name one that made both Naruto and his opponent laugh.

"Ha! We lucked out Akamaru, we get to take down the Dead-last fox-boy! Talk about an easy win!" Kiba leaped over the railing, landing on the close side of the starting positions while Naruto chuckled. He flipped over the railing, Kiba and Hayate to in a mocking show of skill. He stood across from Kiba, hands behind his head and his eyes closed.

"Ready whenever Dog-breath is, Hayate-san." Naruto said, Kiba taking a stance reminiscent of Naruto's brawling stance. He simply hunched over, spread his legs a tad beyond shoulder-width and raised his arms to shoulder-height. Naruto waited for Hayate, the sickly-looking man sighing as he raised his hand.

"Begin." With the dropping of Hayate's arm, Kiba charged toward Naruto, the blond seeming to ignore him. As Kiba swiped toward Naruto with his abnormally sharp fingernails, the blond took a step back. The feral boy continued with his momentum, swiping with the other hand as he stepped forward. Naruto leaned back to avoid the second swipe, before he jumped over Kiba and landed behind him with his back to Kiba. He began to focus his aura into his arms and legs, Kiba crouching and spinning around with a leg-sweep. Naruto lifted the tip of his foot and stopped Kiba's leg effortlessly, the boy falling backward and flat onto his back as a result.

Momentarily dazed, Kiba flipped up with a kick aimed for Naruto's midsection. However, the boy couldn't catch a break as Naruto grabbed his ankle and threw him straight up. All onlookers save Kakashi, Sarutobi and Sasuke were surprised to see Kiba rocket upward and impact the ceiling hard enough to crack it. As he began to fall, he snapped out of his stupor and prepared his chakra for Naruto to continue. He predicted correctly, Naruto jumping up with a punch aimed for Kiba's chest. As Naruto's fist connected, a puff of smoke appeared with Kiba replaced by a chunk of the damaged ceiling. Looking to the cracks in the ceiling, Naruto saw Kiba and Akamaru standing upside down.

"Alright, so you've got a few new tricks. Try this out, Naruto!" Kiba pulled out two round pills, swallowing one and feeding the other to Akamaru. "We'll have to skip out first trick, buddy. Time for some double assault!" Kiba made a hand sign, Akamaru climbing his partner's coat and molding his own chakra into the hand sign. "Juujin Bunshin no Jutsu!" There was a puff of smoke once more, this time Akamaru having become a copy of Kiba. Both looked further dog-like, and they each had a fierce determination emanating from them. By aura alone, Naruto couldn't discern one from the other. As he considered this, the Kibas continued surprising Naruto by launching toward him headfirst, spinning. Their rotation grew incredibly quick, both calling out the name of their technique. "Gatsuuga!"

The two became spinning missiles launching toward Naruto, the boy grinning as his aura burst to life. "Finally, some fun!" Naruto jumped in between them, the pair curving around to try and strike him as he launched in the opposite direction. As the two closed in, Naruto reached the ceiling and made the 'monkey' hand sign to help him shape his aura. "Try this, my original technique!" He thrust his hands forward, a concentrated wave of sheer concussive force launching out at about the size of a kunai. As it passed in between the spinning pair, both were launched away from the wave as though rammed by a horse at full-gallop. One Kiba smacked spine first into the balcony his teammates watched from, where Shino was enthralled at the movements Naruto countered with and Hinata was praying neither hurt the other.

The other Kiba was forced into the ground, rolling onto his feet as the first Kiba impacted the ground. Naruto dropped to the floor, looking at the conscious Kiba whose aura had shifted completely. An immeasurable level of worry, coupled with responsibility that grew ever more stable as his worry grew. If he were right, "Go ahead Akamaru, if Kiba's been knocked out then I win anyhow." A puff of smoke covered the conscious Kiba, Akamaru zooming out barking fervently. He ran to Kiba's side, Naruto going to the boy as well.

"Winner by knockout, Uzumaki Naruto. Please go back to your place Uzumaki-san, he'll be fine." Hayate looked up behind him, waiting a few moments for the monitor to choose the next fighters while Naruto jumped back up to his place. Naruto had wished that he'd have gone up against someone he could let loose on, but Kiba had been more capable than he expected and at least let him try out his new technique. Naruto smiled at Hinata, turning around to talk with Sasuke and Sakura when he saw the look on Sakura's face. She was staring at the monitor almost shocked, prompting Naruto to look as he felt a sense of hate and shame each coming from down the balcony off of two people. He saw Hinata looking at the monitor as well, determining the shame coming from her aura.

Then he saw. On the monitor were two names, seeming like an unfair fight at a glance. "Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata, please take your places." Naruto could assume that the hatred was coming from Neji, Hinata's cousin. Hinata seemed paralyzed, Naruto sensing no determination or passion in her heart as she continued staring at the names.

"N-Neji-nii-san…" Naruto was certain that Neji was her cousin, finding himself puzzled by Hinata's name for him. Neji hopped toward Hayate, landing gently on the far-side of the area. Hinata looked down at him, swearing that she could feel his hatred burning into her. Naruto put his hand on her shoulder, snapping the girl's focus to his concerned face.

"Hey, are you ok Hinata? It's just your cousin, he's from your clan. He wouldn't hurt you that bad, I'm sure of it!" Naruto said, Sasuke grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. Hinata looked to the raven-haired boy, desperation clear to both boys.

"It's more complicated than that, Naruto. Hinata… you know you don't have to fight, right? Without being rude, Neji can beat you. And Naruto will agree if he thinks about it… Neji wants to kill you. We can tell." Sasuke said, Naruto clenching his fists angrily. Nothing angered Naruto more than when the truth was the problem, and a family member wanting to kill another hit Naruto hard with his lack of a family. "I won't stop you, but as a fellow Konoha nin, don't give him the opportunity. There will be more Chuunin exams, but any other time Neji could fight you it'll be illegal to kill you. Not here… here he can kill you."

Naruto pulled his shoulder away roughly, his aura responding to his anger. A thin orange outline appeared around him, Hinata feeling Naruto's emotions in conflict. She felt a fierce desire to find a family, a burning passion for his comrades; and all in conflict with a hatred of those who threaten his friends. This was a comrade, who was the family of a friend, who threatened her life for a reason Naruto didn't even know. Blood dripped from his fists as he gripped himself, all his remaining calm holding him in place.

"Hinata… this is your choice, like Sasuke said. And if you choose not to fight, everyone will understand. No one will blame you… but either way I'm going to bring Neji down; hard." Naruto said, managing to reel his aura back into himself. Hinata found herself feeling very strangely, as though something within her was pushing her to try. Sasuke felt a complete shift in her aura, as though something had awakened within her heart. He knew what it was, and he knew what had caused it. After all, he had firsthand experience. She went toward the stairs leading toward the battle area, a sense of satisfaction coming from Neji.

Naruto had a bad feeling about letting her go through with this, but all he could do was trust her judgment. It was her life to throw away… regardless of how much he wanted to learn about her feelings for him.


	7. Chapter 7

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 7 – The Hearts That Speak

-0-

The Hyuuga boy looked up toward Hinata's sensei with a smirk, seeing instead Naruto's hateful gaze. Neji could swear that Naruto's eyes were glowing, activating his family's bloodline the Byakugan to look closer. He expected to see something relating to the Kyuubi, believing Naruto's orange flame-like energy to be proof of this. Neji felt that this meant Naruto had been overtaken by the fox, but for now his cousin came to stand before him with a resolve that he'd never seen in her before. He decided to use Naruto against her.

"So, Hinata-sama of the elite Main family graces me with her presence. Are you ready to see the true difference between us?" Neji asked, staring into her eyes coldly. As he did, he saw a glint of orange pass across her retinas. He looked up to Naruto, who still looked down on him with his burning gaze. "Just look at your precious Demon, with our eyes even one such as you couldn't deny it."

"Neji-nii-san…" Hinata said, calling his attention back to her as she looked harshly at him. "… I can clearly see the difference between us. It's clear now… that you can't move on from the past." A look of sheer hatred appeared on his face, Hayate raising his hand before speaking out.

"Begin." Neji rushed Hinata, the dark-haired girl continuing to look into his eyes as his Byakugan flared to life. He struck chakra points above her arms, Hinata moving back a second too late to evade his attack. She cringed at the tightening in her muscles, feeling her chakra flow slowing between her arms and shoulders. Her own Byakugan appeared, Hinata remembering what Neji had said about Naruto. As her eyes allowed her to see in almost every direction, she could plainly see the flame-like energy dancing throughout Naruto's body. She saw it flowing not just through his chakra system, but around it as well. It was almost as though his power wasn't coming from his body, but she could also see a red energy contained within the tenketsu in Naruto's stomach; Tenketsu being the three-hundred and sixty-one points that run parallel to the human circulatory system.

The Tenketsu allow chakra to flow to and from the muscles and organs, thereby allowing humans to utilize chakra as well as withstand harsher conditions. While chakra was utilized as a tool by ninjas, all pure-blooded humans held chakra that kept the body functioning. With the wrong series of tenketsu closed, the heart would lose the ability to beat and refresh blood.

"If that's the best you can do, then this match will be a joke!" Neji continued his assault, rage evident in his eyes. As he threw a palm strike toward Hinata's heart, Hinata's survival instincts pushed her faster than she'd ever gone before. With a strength she'd never found before, Hinata crouched and sweeped at Neji's feet. He jumped slightly, Hinata pushing off of the ground and throwing both hands behind her toward Neji's waist. He twisted to try and avoid her attack, but she had anticipated his dodge and didn't release the chakra. Her hands came forward swiftly, releasing the chakra she'd built up into Neji's sternum as he flipped over her. Hinata's eyes widened in shock, the girl completely unprepared for her own attack to hit such a vital area. Neji landed in a heap, coughing up blood as he landed. Hayate walked around to get a look at Neji, who glared up at Hinata hatefully. "Finally, you show the true nature of the Main family."

"Are you able to continue?" Hayate asked, Neji spitting up more blood as he flipped up onto his feet. Hinata personally saw Neji's heart and lungs struggle to continue functioning, Neji growling a response to the proctor.

"I'm fine… I'll finish this!" Neji spread his stance wide, standing with his body perpendicular to Hinata's and his arms stretched out parallel his legs with his palms facing upward. "You'll learn the strength of the Branch family, you are in range of my Hakke!" Hinata's heart-rate skyrocketed, unable to believe what he was implying. Neji rushed forward, striking Hinata on either side of her chest once. "Nishou!" He followed through with either hand striking points on her abdomen twice. "Yonshou!" Eight more strikes, focused around the hips and shoulders. "Hachishou!" Sixteen followed through across the biceps. "Juurokushou!" Another barrage struck all across Hinata's torso, thirty-two this time. "Sanjuunishou!" And finally, Neji struck each attack zone again in a fearsome barrage of sixty-two strikes, two more landing with additional force directly above either lung. "Hakkeshou: Rokujuuyonshou!"

The entire attack occurred within six seconds, leaving no time for Hinata to react once it had begun. Naruto found himself unusually worried for her safety, not having felt this level of rage since Sasuke's false-death. "Hinata!" Faster than anyone could see, Sasuke and Kakashi has pressed Naruto back against the wall. Naruto's aura had appeared around him, Kakashi and Sasuke struggling to hold him back. Sasuke manipulated his own energy to bolster his strength, but Naruto's power was far stronger than his own.

As Neji stepped back and breathed raggedly, he fell to one knee as Hinata fell to the ground. Sasuke understood Naruto's rage, Hinata's aura wavering erratically. On top of that, the sense of betrayal and loneliness that emanated from Hinata was almost enough to infuriate Sasuke as well. After all, he knew only one person who'd voluntarily attacked his own clan members.

"Call the match, proctor. She won't be getting up from that." Neji said, bringing himself back to his feet. Before his eyes, Hinata pushed off against the floor with only her determination driving her. Sasuke and Naruto felt the pain in her heart filling her with a determination they both knew well from the battle on the bridge, her eyes alight with passion. Neji scowled, preparing his stance once more as Hinata found her footing. "So, all it takes is for the Demon-boy to call your name. Too bad your BELOVED father would never allow him to be with you. Much less let him live at all."

"You try to hurt me, but I know why you're hurting, Neji-nii-san…" Hinata said, Neji's face contorting in rage once more.

"I am not your brother! I have been subjugated along with the rest of the branch family, while you have all been pampered and risen up onto a pedestal!" Neji shouted, his chakra flaring to life in an attempt to intimidate Hinata into submitting without finishing her thought.

"It's not my fault that the Branch house is treated like this… it wasn't my fault that your father died!" Hinata shouted, the stern look on her face alien to Neji. This statement only served to make Neji's hatred burn brighter, driving him to charge at Hinata. As Neji lashed out at her one final time, Sasuke and Kakashi were overpowered and Naruto vanished. As Neji's strike connected, his eyes burned at the blinding orange light that filled his vision. His Byakugan de-activating, he looked up to see Naruto glaring into his eyes with a definite glow from his own. Naruto pushed Neji on either shoulder, the Hyuuga flying back twenty-five meters into the opposite wall. When Neji looked up, he saw Naruto being held back by his Sensei, Kakashi, Kurenai and the Team Ten sensei Asuma.

"I should kill you for this shit! She's family, why would ANYONE TRY TO KILL THEIR FAMILY?!" Naruto shouted angrily, the four senseis unable to completely halt his advance as he very slowly managed to continue stepping forward. Just as quickly as Naruto had appeared before Neji, the Hokage appeared before Naruto with his index and middle fingers pointed an inch from Naruto's left eye.

"That is enough, Naruto-kun. If you fight him now, then you'll be disqualified. Is that what you want?" Sarutobi asked, Naruto stopping his advance to respond.

"Why should I care?! This scum needs to be taught a REAL lesson, just let me show him what his lungs look like!" Naruto shouted, a tear appearing in either eye. "He tried to kill her, a comrade! A fellow Konoha ninja, and his fucking cousin! That can't be allowed, not even in a combat exam!"

"I'm afraid it must be, Naruto-kun. If we make an exception for ourselves, than these exams could never replace widespread war. It would always allow the host-villages to curry favor and influence from the Daimyo of their nations. You must wait until you have your own chance to fight him, in proper accordance with the rules." Sarutobi explained, keeping his hand steady before Naruto. He knew that the blond could feel his own conviction, and hoped the boy would not force him to do anything he truly regretted.

"You better be right Jiji… if Hinata dies, you'd best believe I'll take care of this TRASH properly." Naruto said, Kakashi looking Naruto in the eye.

"Naruto… let it be for now. The next portion of the exams is just like these, but in public. Don't you want to show him up in front of all the dignitaries and officials that favor the clans? Here it's just murder, but there it would really be a victory for you." Kakashi said, Naruto growling as he reeled his power in and pushed his tears down. He shook his head a bit, before he pulled himself from the Jounin grips by turning toward Hinata firmly. He went to the girl who could barely stand, looking at him graciously and smiling.

"I-I couldn't win Naruto-kun, I d-didn't mean to let you d-down…" Hinata said, Naruto ignoring it and pulling her into a hug.

"I don't know why you make me feel this way… but I won't let you die. I won't ever let you die." Naruto held her as gently as he could, Hinata's aura swelling with relief and joy. Naruto felt her slump against him, his only assurance of her survival being how strongly her aura continued to feel. He picked up her legs, turning to send Neji one last glare. "Kakashi-sensei… meet us in the infirmary when you're free." When his sensei nodded back to him, Naruto and Hinata vanished, the door to leave exploding into the hallway that same moment. Everyone in the hall had been intimidated by Naruto's show of force, except for Neji and Gaara. The Hyuuga relished the opportunity to show the power of the Branch house against Konoha's Demonic Weapon, while the red-head was absolutely craving a battle with the enraged blond.

The monitor selected another pair of names, and Kakashi looked at Neji's sensei with disappointment evident in his single revealed eye. Maito Gai, the Jounin instructor for Team Nine, sighed as he looked at Neji with contempt. The boy slowly walked to the stairs, unwilling to meet his Sensei's gaze. The man was a fool to Neji, anyway.

-0-

"You can't just barge THROUGH our doors, Uzumaki-san. I have to ask that you leave!" The medical ninja did what he could to hide his contempt for the Kyuubi sealed within the boy, but Naruto's ability to sense his aura prevented the boy from listening. "I said to leave, now!"

"If you don't want to learn what your little villagers felt, you'll do your job and heal her." Naruto said viciously, his aura flaring to life around him as he pretended to channel the Kyuubi. The man felt the pure rage coming off of the boy, scurrying to obtain a stethoscope. He shook uncomfortably as he tried not to pee his pants, not noticing his hand steady itself as Naruto calmed himself down. This anxiety had been gone since the Nami mission, Naruto's new strength having been more than enough to let him think he could protect everyone.

He felt that Neji would never follow through with it, no matter how much her really hated Hinata. It seemed that he hated all of the main family, but being the eldest daughter of that family Neji was probably trying to get back at the Hyuuga's Elder Council or Hinata's father. In Naruto's eyes, this was an unacceptable way of trying to get revenge. Trusting Hinata was speaking the truth, it seemed that for some reason Neji blamed the Hyuuga Main family for his father's death.

He noticed the medical ninja grow extremely anxious, Hinata's aura still wavering erratically. "What the hell are you doing? Help her!" The ninja cringed at Naruto's voice, turning with tears running down his face and a foul liquid filling his pants.

"I-I-I can't heal this kind of damage, not here. The only way to open her airway back up properly is to p-pretty much soothe it with a m-m-medical jutsu. But with her tenketsu closed off in the places th-they are, I can't get any chakra of any kind to her lungs. If they don't re-open soon, sh-she'll die without life-support." The man was ready to break down, Naruto not caring about his fears.

"What about the hospital? Do they have this life-support stuff? Can they help her there?!" Naruto asked, Kakashi walking in the next moment.

"Y-Y-Y-" Naruto didn't have the patience to wait for the man to get the words out, picking Hinata back up and turning to Kakashi.

"I'll be at the Hospital, sensei. Make sure to remember who I end up fighting against." Naruto was about to begin rushing away when Kakashi grabbed his shoulder.

"Naruto… if you rush her all the way there in the way you do, she won't be able to breathe at all for those fifteen seconds. That could put her into shock with the way her lungs are working now, she can't afford to have you rushing that far." Kakashi said, Naruto cringing at his implication. "If she's going to have any chance, she needs to rest right now. You can't help her unless you can re-open her tenketsu, and you don't seem to have standard chakra anymore."

"There has to be something I can do!" Naruto shouted, his own heart screaming for him to act. His mind was in a state of torture, in direct conflict with his urge to destroy Neji and rush Hinata to the hospital. It was then that he saw a bright blue light that he hadn't thought about since Nami no Kuni. His sword summoned itself to his hand, the medical ninja running in terror with squishing noises accompanying each step. "What the hell?" Naruto felt the sword tugging toward Hinata, but when Orochimaru's sword had done the same thing it had no trouble wrenching itself from Naruto's grasp. This was different, like someone pulling their friend along by the hand. Naruto conceded, walking over to Hinata with the flat side of the sword facing her body. The tip pulled itself toward her feet, the handle pulling Naruto's hand toward Hinata's forehead.

The sword vanished, becoming the light-blue orb that Naruto had ripped from Haku. His vision went dark, the orb of light shining brightly. Kakashi didn't know what was happening, but out of loyalty to his student he stepped out to the hallway and watched for anyone drawing close.

-0-

Naruto awoke in a very bright place. It was kind of creepy, in a way. The area was more or less the classroom at the academy without the ceiling, Naruto being a young child once more. Were he to guess, he would have to say that it was his first day in the academy. He looked left and right, seeing black-and-white versions of the rest of the class. There were, however, three figures that weren't in black-and-white. The first was Hinata, sitting three rows back from Naruto on the other side of the room. She looked at him longingly, as though he held everything she needed.

The second and third surprised Naruto, but on some small level he'd been wondering what had happened to them. "It's been six months, Naruto-kun. This visit is long overdue."

"... Haku-san. So… it was you helping Zabuza then." Naruto never looked under Haku's mask, now seeing the boy standing next to Zabuza in his Hunter outfit without his mask. Zabuza stood with his left hand on his hip, a smile apparent beneath his bandaging. "Sorry to take your sword, Momochi-teme. It's served me damn well."

"That we have, runt." Zabuza said, walking up the stairs of the room to where Hinata sat watching the three interacting. "Not why we made you come here, though. You can chat with us anytime." Zabuza put his hand on Hinata's head, the girl closing her eyes and looking away. "There's something we can do to help the girl stay alive. It'll open those tenketsu things that coward medic talked about." Naruto looked to Haku, the androgynous boy smiling reassuringly. "There's a catch, of course."

"A catch?" Naruto asked, Haku's smile fading as he walked over to Hinata. "Something tells me that this is going to be a strange little favor, isn't it?" Haku chuckled, Zabuza's face remaining even.

"Kind of, Naruto-kun. You see, your power comes from your soul instead of your body. That's how we're here, in your rage you pulled my soul from my body. In taking Zabuza-sama's sword during that rage, you pulled his soul along with mine into it. I'm afraid I don't know how you did that… but, I do know how you could use your power to help your girl here." Haku put his hand on Hinata's shoulder, the young girl turning and looking at him. "She's been very attached to you, and since you showed her acknowledgment in the forest you unknowingly connected your soul to hers. Mind you, it happened so swiftly because of how much she's wanted you to notice her, but the fact remains that you now share a very faint spiritual bond. This means that you could gift her some of your power, but it would influence her chakra system similarly to how yours has been influenced."

"Why would that matter? Didn't you just say this power isn't from my body like chakra is? What does it have to do with chakra at all?" Naruto asked, Haku shaking his head amusedly.

"It's complicated to explain, but your chakra was transformed into your demonic aura when you fought me on the bridge. You've always been connected to the Kyuubi, but its power only touched your soul when your rage erupted. Your soul integrated with the energy, giving your soul a demonic aura unique to you. Over the past few months your body and soul have adapted to it, becoming a mixture of human and demon." Haku explained, Naruto doing his best to keep up without asking any questions. "Sasuke's incident confirmed our theory, but when demonic energy touches a human soul from within, the soul absorbs it. The existing spiritual power mixes with the energy, and the soul begins producing its own unique demonic aura. This aura mutates the body through the chakra system, causing the organs and muscles to utilize demonic power instead of chakra. This transition is the difference between a human and a demon-hybrid, and we believe that even a small infusion of power will set the process in motion."

Naruto was thoroughly blown away, almost unable to believe what was going on, much less what he was being told. If he wasn't the evidence of the event himself, then he wouldn't ever even consider the idea. "You're telling me that to save Hinata for sure, I would inevitably change her into a demon?" Naruto asked, Haku wearing a somber look as he nodded. "Neji was able to see the difference in my energy, there's no way that Hinata would be able to get away with that. She could be removed from her clan! Maybe even exiled from the village! How could I ever live with causing something like that?!"

"We live in your soul, runt. We understand how you feel. And if you take a minute to remember the whole situation…" Zabuza trailed off, Naruto clenching his fists as he remembered his encouragements to Hinata, "… then you'll know that it's partly your fault that she fought that kid. Yeah, she might get exiled, and so might you. But… she wouldn't die." Naruto couldn't help but blame himself for the whole fight, and now he was blaming himself for all of the things that might happen because of his mouth. He was certain that no one would ever kill their family on such a grudge… to kill your cousin because your father died? That didn't even punish anyone involved…

"It's ok, Naruto-kun." Naruto's eyes snapped to Hinata, the girl shocking him with her words. "I knew that this might happen… in fact I expected him to kill me faster." Hinata's eyes held tears, streaming down her face over a sad smile. "I don't want you to hurt so soon after I've been able to be so close to you… you need to know that I don't have much of a real family. Father and Sister are wonderful behind closed doors, and I am so lucky for having been a part of their lives… but if Neji is the one to kill me, they'll never stop feeling ashamed of our clan." Hinata's aura was everywhere, the sky letting loose a downpour of salty rain; as though the sky itself were crying with her. "Every time they perform a ceremony, or even wear our clan emblem they'll remember what happened. And they'll have to bite back and be polite; even if it kills the wonderful father and sister I've gotten to live with. Please Naruto-kun… I don't want to ask this of you, but please don't let Neji take them from me. They'll be able to handle it if you do this, but they'll never be the same if another Hyuuga kills me."

Haku and Zabuza vanished in a bright blue flash, Naruto walking up the stairs and looking into her eyes. "… I told you I wouldn't let you die and I won't. No matter what happens to me." Naruto smiled at her, Hinata closing her eyes as the rain continued falling. Naruto's vision went dark once more, Hinata being left alone in the rain.

"Naruto-kun…"

-0-

Naruto awoke to find his hand over Hinata in the position he'd been in before blacking out, the bright orb having vanished. He smiled sadly as he watched her struggling to breathe, Kakashi walking back in behind him. "Sensei… watch the door." Kakashi rolled his revealed eye, returning to the hallway. Naruto took Hinata's hand, closing his eyes and reaching within himself. He felt through his energy, flashes of memories from his use of the power flooding his vision. As he thought of his power, he saw a whirlwind of flames. As he thought of his sword, he saw Zabuza and Haku standing with smiles looking at him happily. Thinking of his headband, he saw Iruka.

He thought of Hinata, seeing the child versions of him and Hinata standing in the rain within her soul. He imagined fire covering him like a shroud, his aura appearing around him in reality. He imagined it reaching out to Hinata, covering her as well. As his aura crept up Hinata's arm, her breathing began to even out. Within his mind, he saw the energy coating Hinata shift into a brilliant white. Likewise, a white light appeared over her heart as Naruto's orange energy flowed into her arm. After another moment the energy began to surround her body, the shining light from her heart fading into her chest. As Naruto let go of her hand, he noticed a gentle breeze surrounding her.

Her hand reached out and grabbed his, holding him at her side. She began to smile, Naruto heaving a sigh of relief. As her white aura faded into her skin, her eyes opened and looked over to Naruto. While she and her clan all had white eyes, hers seemed somehow brighter now. "Sensei, I did it! She's awake!" Kakashi came back in, smiling at the girl's happy face. Kakashi patted Naruto's shoulder, proud of the boy's commitment to his teammates.

"I need to tell you, if not for her critical condition I would've had to apprehend you. It's for a good cause, but you've been playing with fire Naruto. You need to be careful." Naruto waved him off, not caring about whatever kind of punishment might come down. They couldn't kill him, and exile would open Naruto up to recruitment with rival villages. And with Hinata's breathing corrected, he could breathe easily himself again.

"Naruto-kun, thank you so much." Hinata spoke without a single stutter, smiling joyfully as Naruto continued looking down at her.

"Not a problem at all!" Naruto said, stepping back and tugging at her hand. "Come on, try to stand. Let's make sure you're alright." She managed to get onto her feet without any trouble, feeling lightheaded from a cacophony of new sensations. It was like she was completely weightless, everything seemed sharper to her eyes and she could feel her body surging with a strange energy.

"So this is what that energy of yours is like. It's incredible!" Hinata sounded bewildered, Naruto smiling as she stretched her arms out to the sides. "I feel like I could do anything! Like nothing bad could happen no matter what I do." Hinata said, stretching backwards and causing Naruto to stare at her chest. Hinata was wearing a grin when she came back to standing straight, feeling no trace of the crushing fear or paralyzing embarrassment that she'd always struggled with. "I like this, I like this a lot!"

Naruto found himself blushing at how Hinata was acting, especially knowing the way the young girl felt about him. That coat could really hide a lot… Finding his voice, Naruto chuckled before responding.

"Not even one stutter. Looks like I rubbed off on you a bit!" Naruto said smiling, Hinata taking his hand and walking toward the door. "So I'm guessing you'll be taking me up on that lunch offer?"

-0-

"Your Cursed Seal seems to have given Sasuke-kun rather impressive abilities, I'm sure he'll come to us for more power." Kabuto spoke to Orochimaru, who stood barely disguised in an Oto Jounin's uniform. The snake man smirked, Kabuto continuing. "Interesting events with Uzumaki, as well. He seems to have taken to using the Kyuubi's power rather inventively."

"That he has. I should remember to keep an eye of the boy, if I can extrapolate the way he utilizes that power I may be able to extract it for myself. Continue surveillance here, perhaps even a visit for Sasuke-kun toward the next portion of these foolish exams. We must make sure he keeps us in mind, after all. I will return to Oto for now, my work is done here." Orochimaru walked away from his secret subordinate, the gray-haired boy smiling as he corrected his glasses.

'_Another month, Sasuke-kun… and then you'll be crawling to us for the means you require.'_


	8. Chapter 8

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 8 – One Month

-0-

They had been given one month. Every Genin that passed the first two portions and the third portion preliminary round was given one month between the drawings of their matches and the actual tournament-style third portion. In one month's time, they would be facing off in a public arena for all to see. Naruto would face off against Neji, Sasuke against the Suna ninja Gaara, Shikamaru versus Temari, Shino versus Kankuro and then Sakura versus the Oto ninja Dosu. Dosu was the one who'd attacked Kabuto before the first portion, and the large gauntlet he wore was confirmed to utilize sound as a weapon in a single strike victory against Akimichi Chouji; teammate to Ino and Shikamaru on Konoha Team Ten.

"It's stupid, we wouldn't get a month to rest in a real week long mission. Why should the exams have a break in the middle?" Naruto was walking down the street carelessly, Hinata walking next to him as they ventured through Konoha. While it was well known that the girl was interested in Naruto, the villagers found themselves extremely pensive at the sight. Even without Naruto's recent loss of patience with them, the villagers felt very strongly about the possibility of Naruto having hypnotized Hinata. Hinata had noticed their behaviors long ago, a result of her time spent studying the blond.

"So that there's time for people like the Kazekage and Father to schedule a visit, I imagine the parents of those siblings from Sunagakure will be arriving." Hinata responded, doing her best to disregard the auras she could now sense. It was like feeling heat with one's skin; the more intense the sensation was the more it affected her. If she hadn't been such a passive individual before the exams she may have failed to keep herself under control. Naruto scoffed, wishing that the exams would've exhausted him at least a bit. At this rate training would be the most fun he ever got to have.

"Whatever, at least I have time to replace my jacket. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find matching orange outfits, especially ones that aren't for little babies." Naruto was releasing a small bit of tension through his aura, uncomfortable with Gaara having time to prepare for Sasuke and far more uncomfortable with Neji having time to prepare for him. It was less a matter of fearing for his safety, and more a matter of Neji having time to curry favor with the civilians or the Hyuuga Elders. While it was unlikely, Naruto's upbringing gave Naruto a bit of a cruel paranoia toward the villagers. He felt as though they knew that he would never hurt them, having always wanted to be a ninja. Early on children are taught that ninja protect the village, and Naruto took this to mean that they couldn't hurt villagers.

At this stage Naruto questioned himself on that point. But having already become a ninja, the villagers' distaste for him couldn't affect his career. Naruto supposed that he could ignore them with little to no repercussions. Naruto and Hinata arrived at a branch of Konoha's main clothing store, a civilian-owned store that Naruto had originally obtained his favorite jumpsuit. Technically speaking, he obtained the outfit from the dumpster in the alley.

The two entered, the store clerk immediately focusing totally on Naruto. The blond disregarded him and the other two customers, both of which vacated once Naruto left the main aisle. Hinata noted the rising ire of the clerk, but found it amusing from her current disposition. "Naruto-kun, when your powers awakened did you notice a change in your personality?"

"I didn't, but Sasuke and Sakura both ragged me about it on the walk home from Nami. Apparently I was… well, Sasuke said calmer and Sakura said jaded. Not sure which is more accurate, but a lot of things just fell into perspective for me." Naruto answered, scowling as he looked over the entirety of the section containing his shirt size. The closest to his preference was a black jacket with sleeves that faded into orange halfway down the arm. The interior was also orange, but the black dominated the appearance a bit much for Naruto's liking. "I can tell you right now you're less shy, but I couldn't nail down what caused it or how shy you still are. You never talked to me in full sentences before, though."

"Yeah, that's what I noticed." Hinata wore a delighted smile, experiencing what she'd considered a perfect day ever since she only had a crush. Now that she was in the situation, she conceded that it was nothing like she imagined; this served to make it truly perfect in her mind. No worry of rejection, no pressure from her father, just a day out with Naruto. Hinata took closer notice of Naruto's opinion of the jacket, his aura reflecting frustration. "You know, you've been wearing the same outfit for over a year now. Your wardrobe could do with a slight change."

"What, and lose my favorite trick? You've gotta see the look on some ninjas' faces when someone in orange manages to hide right in front of them!" Naruto stepped away from the jacket, once again looking over the entire section. Hinata laughed at the thought, actually able to believe it as a reason for Naruto's color obsession. "Besides, black is totally a cliché. Every ninja wears black at some point! I want to stand out!"

"I'm not saying to change the orange that much, it works well on you. And it works well with the way your power appears, but in that sense a black-and-orange color scheme would contrast well." Hinata said, Naruto crossing his arms in thought. It was a good point, and the jacket did have a decent enough amount of orange compared to the complete lack thereof Naruto saw in the rest of the section. "Besides, you could definitely add to it later. Maybe put an emblem in orange on the shoulder or the back?"

Naruto found he was convinced thoroughly enough, reaching out and taking the jacket off the rack. "The orange isn't the same shade as my pants, it won't look right." Naruto was being a bit vain now, Hinata having noticed that detail initially.

"I did say it was your wardrobe that could use a change…" Naruto almost looked offended, looking at his pants as though there were something obviously wrong with them. Hinata smiled as she chuckled a little bit, not wanting to say it. "I don't really see it mattering, but those have been fading noticeably since a month after you started wearing that style of pants." She desperately wanted to avoid the topic of if they were the only pants he had, finding convincing him of new clothing to be a smarter idea. Hinata went to a pair of pants that seemed Naruto's size, probably intended as a match for the jacket by their coloration. The waistband down to what would be the knee was black, fading into orange the same as the jacket did.

As Hinata handed him the pants, Naruto seemed to battle with the decision slightly. Hinata surmised there was some personal attachment to his current clothing, but felt that it was definitely time for him to change his outfit. The rest of his personality had been maturing, and she wanted to try and help him continue with his personal growth. "Fine, I'll get them. Let's go."

"Wait, you need a few copies of those. If you only buy one set you'll have to wash them every single day." Naruto figured that asking what she was talking about would cause questions about his hygiene, taking her advice. He grabbed two more pairs of pants and another jacket, figuring that he could get away with simply keeping a backup. It seemed to be socially acceptable, Hinata having nothing to say about his choice of quantity. As they approached the counter, the clerk looked eager for them to leave. Naruto set the clothes down on the counter, the clerk not looking down at them or reacting in any way. He simply stared at Naruto, trying to wish him away.

"I'd like to buy these clothes, please." Naruto said, looking into the clerk's eyes as the man stared at Naruto's whiskered cheeks. The man seemed fixated; his aura reflecting extreme discomfort the longer Naruto looked at him. Naruto sighed, turning to Hinata. "The jackets were fifty and the pants thirty, right?" Hinata nodded, unsurprised with the clerk's behavior. Naruto pulled out a small frog-like wallet, removing four paper bills from it. If one were to look closely they would see four Fifty-ryo notes that Naruto set on the counter as he picked the clothes back up. He shot the man a quick grin, simply to insult him on their way out.

As the pair went back out into the street, they turned back in their starting direction toward Naruto's apartment. Having begun by walking to the Hyuuga compound, Naruto thought it would be easiest to shop in between picking Hinata up and actually going to lunch. "You gonna want to change when we get to your apartment?"

"How did you know that's where we were headed?" Naruto asked, certain he hadn't ever told anyone where it was that he lived. Doing so would've been exceptionally foolish, almost guaranteeing theft regularly. Hinata blushed, deigning not to answer the question. Naruto wasn't certain that he truly wanted the answer to his question, deciding to move to a different topic. "So, are you alright with trying Ichiraku's? Even if you don't like ramen, I guarantee you'll love it! It's the most incredible thing ever!" Not really caring about the where of the situation, Hinata nodded that it was fine. If the clerk had given Naruto a bag like he was supposed to, the blond would've jumped for joy.

The walk was uneventful beyond conversation, Naruto learning that Hinata actually enjoyed his company even when he didn't have anything to say. Her aura always reflected joy when he responded to her, causing the blond to smile to himself. He had found friends in Sasuke and Sakura, and he might have found something more in Hinata. Things were going much better than he'd ever anticipated.

-0-

That afternoon, after parting with Hinata, Naruto arrived at his team's preferred training ground to see Sasuke and Sakura waiting for him. As Naruto and Sasuke always had, they'd arranged amongst themselves to train for the two hours between when Kakashi said he would be there and when he actually did arrive. Naruto waved to his teammates, a happy smile upon his face. They waved back, Sasuke speaking up first of the three.

"So, a tournament. You guys know what that means, right?" Sasuke asked, Sakura nodding as Naruto scratched his head nervously. Sensing Naruto's confusion, Sasuke continued instead of watching him try and work it out. "It's a foregone conclusion that you'll be winning against Neji, and if that sand is Gaara's only trick then I'm going to win as well. The problem is that we'd be fighting each other in the second round, and we know all of each other's tricks. Without holding back, I don't know which of us would win. Do we want to play it that way, or should we train separately?" The implications were rather clear to Naruto, a fun fight full of surprises or a glorified sparring match? While Sasuke's skill level kept him at a constant match to Naruto's brute force, Naruto knew that almost no one would be willing to fight him as hard as the Uchiha did. And considering Kakashi's Sharingan, their sensei was probably going to be working with Sasuke more than himself.

"So you mean to say you want a fun fight, is that right?" Naruto asked, smirking as he considered Team Eight. He could probably convince Kiba and Hinata to team up against him, additionally giving Naruto a chance to see the extent of Hinata's skills. "I'm alright with that. I'd still prefer being able to help train Sakura and get a nice workout from you, but it's pretty hard to choose a boring fight when I have the option." Naruto's grin denoted his urge for a fight, hoping that Sasuke would end up with some interesting tricks to pull on him. "So, what? I should train with Hinata's team or something?"

"It's interesting that you mention Hinata's team first. Has something started going on between you two?" Kakashi had been waiting in the trees reading his book, speaking up as the conversation reached an interesting point. Naruto glared at Kakashi, as though to say it wasn't his business. With an amused smile beneath his mask, Kakashi hopped from the branches to the ground. He put his book away, resting his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, that won't be necessary. I've arranged for you to train with an old friend." Almost on cue, a man in black clothing arrived. He wore his forehead protector like a bandana, a pair of simple sunglasses resting over his eyes. "This is Ebisu-sensei; he'll be the one working with Sakura. He should be able to help with your Taijutsu and even teach you some new Ninjutsu. As for Naruto, well, it's a bit stra-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" A man dressed like Rock Lee with a Jounin vest and without bandaged arms appeared from nowhere kicking Naruto firmly in the face. As Naruto went careening through a tree, Sasuke and Sakura recognized him as Neji's sensei, Maito Gai. "Alright, that's to show you the power of YOUTH!" Naruto shoved the downed tree off of himself, looking up to find himself aggravated with Kakashi's choice.

"Is that your idea of helping?! That's Neji's sensei, how do I know this isn't a trick?!" Naruto was livid at the implications, a hurt and insulted look appearing on the man's face. Kakashi jumped to Naruto, the boy glaring hatefully as he remembered Neji's brutality.

"Yes, it is. You see, Neji is refusing to train with his team. He's working in seclusion against Gai's approval. And to make things better for you, I thought that Gai might be interested in teaching you some more advanced Taijutsu." As Naruto opened his mouth to protest, Kakashi held his hand up to indicate he wasn't finished. "The only gap in your abilities that I still see is your brawling Taijutsu and a lack of many Ninjutsu or Genjutsu techniques. Gai specializes in the use of pure Taijutsu alone, and he knows Neji's style as well as any non-Hyuuga around."

The idea that Gai knew Neji's abilities had crossed his mind, but Hinata seemed surprised at the attack Neji had used against her. Now that he could think of it calmly, Naruto recalled her aura giving off extreme disbelief as she looked at the stance he'd taken. "Hinata knew about the attack that Neji used on her, but she couldn't believe he was able to do it. Why's that, Gai?"

"An excellent question, Naruto-kun! However, you ask the right question, I do not know the secret Hyuuga Taijutsu moves. Based on that lack of knowledge, I can confidently tell you that the technique was a secret Hyuuga move, taught only in the Hyuuga Main family." Gai walked over to the two, able to discern Naruto's extreme distrust of the man. "I swear to you Naruto-kun, I will do everything in my power to teach you Taijutsu." Naruto's glare softened, the boy obviously considering the man's proposal. "Neji's superiority complex revolves around his complex feelings about his clan; he seeks to prove that the Main family is worthless by outdoing them all in their signature Taijutsu style. In contrast, he belittles Lee and I for utilizing my Taijutsu style believing that non-Hyuuga Taijutsu is universally inferior. Lee and I have endeavored to show him he's wrong, and we would be honored if it were you to help us finally succeed."

Naruto did want to hit Neji where he lived, strike him at his spirit the way he tried to snuff Hinata's out. He desperately wanted to simply burn the boy alive, but not only would that not accomplish his wishes, but Neji was still another Konoha ninja. He wanted to crush the boy, and then be sure that Neji knew his place as a Konoha nin was the only thing that spared his life. Not his clan, not his eyes, and not his worth; the headband he wore and Naruto's commitment to it would spare Neji's life.

"… fine. But I swear, if Neji shows any prior insight into my techniques then I'll never trust either of you again." Naruto had learned after a couple of months under him that trust was irreplaceable to Kakashi, and Gai's aura implied the same from the fluctuation at Naruto's statement. This fluctuation settled on an iron determination, Gai grinning and displaying a thumbs up to the blond.

"You won't regret this, Naruto-kun! Now follow me into the SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!" Gai ran off at a high speed, surprising Naruto both with his personality and his determination. Finding himself encouraged at Gai's foot speed, Naruto chased after him beyond standard visibility. Sakura found herself pleased, as she'd been able to see Naruto's black-and-orange blur zoom away. Until then, he simply vanished to her eye. Kakashi and Sasuke, however, were at the point that they could track his footsteps without their Sharingan eyes.

"Well then, we don't want our loveable knucklehead to get that far ahead of us, do we? Let's get started, we still have almost the whole month." Kakashi said, Ebisu and Sakura nodding as they walked over to elaborate Sakura's skills in the training ground. Meanwhile, Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder before the boy felt Kakashi's chakra move across his body. "We'll be training somewhere a little… obscure." The two vanished in a swirl of leaves, moving well-beyond Sasuke or Naruto's foot speeds.

-0-

Naruto tailed Gai to a large dirt-patch found deep within the forest surrounding Konoha, the blond still surprised with the eccentric man's pace. He didn't stop once in the ten minutes that they'd been running, not even breaking a sweat as they arrived. Gai stood with his hands on his hips, Naruto appearing before him a moment later.

"Excellent job, Naruto-kun! It seems that I won't need to increase your speed to start training you, which means we can start right now!" Gai took the same stance that Lee had taken when he demanded a spar with Sasuke, legs spread with his left foot out and toward Naruto with the right bent to have his foot directly beneath him. His right hand was rolled into a fist, held against the back of his waist while his left hand was held toward Naruto. His arm went out and downward, bending up at the elbow with the hand straight with the back facing toward Naruto. "Now, imitate this stance so that we can start teaching you my signature style, the Gouken!"

Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm literally strong enough to shatter boulders, why do I need to bother with a real style?" Gai's aura intensified, reflecting joy at the statement. It seemed that Gai enjoyed a challenge as well, at least if he was joyful about convincing Naruto.

"I won't insult you with words to prove a point about fighting, come at me and try to land a strike! I assure you that especially with such strength, the Gouken is the perfect way for you to go!" As he finished speaking, Gai lifted his left knee to perfectly block Naruto's punch at Gai's stomach. In the same instant, Gai span his body with the momentum from Naruto's punch to deliver a vicious roundhouse kick to Naruto's left shoulder. The boy flew face-first through another tree as soon as he'd tried to punch the eccentric Jounin, looking at the man with shock as he pulled himself back to his feet. "If your opponent's strength is superior, use it against them! The key to the Gouken is to use your speed to control the tide of battle, and you have plenty of speed to work with. Hone your skills, and I'm confident that you can become as great a Taijutsu specialist as me!"

Naruto found the man's exuberance a little bit unusual, but he couldn't deny what had just happened. The last time he felt a strike of such force was the first time Sasuke tricked him into punching a wall, which had launched large chunks of the wall into his face. "Alright Gejimayu-sensei, I'll learn your style. But you'd better be prepared for the workout of a lifetime! I don't get tired so easily!" Gai grinned brightly at the nickname, Kakashi having mentioned it as the step before he got to a first-name basis with someone. It was kind of a test, to find out if they can take a joke.

"Alright, let your youthful spirit explode!"

-0-

One week passes by without incident. Naruto had just finished the day's training with Gai, both of them breathing raggedly with Naruto covered in dirt and debris. A grin was firmly planted on each of their faces, Gai usually only experiencing such exhaustion from laps around the village. Naruto was completely new to the feeling, however. Even before his power had awakened, Naruto hadn't been so exhausted in his life.

"Excellent work today Naruto-kun, I'm impressed! Now then, I'm off to visit Lee in the hospital. Have yourself a splendid day, my youthful student!" Gai bowed quickly, before vanishing in a great show of endurance and speed. Naruto still found himself surprised at how far Gai could push himself, the man being definitively human. The blond put his hands on the back of his head, proceeding to walk off toward Ichiraku's. He'd actually never taken this route before, Gai's preferred training ground being on the opposite side of the village to Naruto's own favored grounds.

Either way, the boy found himself thinking back on his life as it had gone. Specifically, he found himself confused at his own hang-ups about his appearance. It seemed like his obsessive wish to wear orange was linked to his energy's presence throughout his life, but the boy had no way of knowing that his powers would be fire-orange. Moreover, there was no kind of evidence as to the coloration meaning anything. Naruto felt like there was something he still didn't know, as if there were powers available that were waiting for Naruto to push himself further.

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts as a figure in black flew into him. Based on the fact it was a man striking him back-first, Naruto gathered that someone had been thrown into him at high speed. He was forced to step outward with his left foot to keep from falling, the man dropping like a broken doll. As Naruto scowled, he saw that the man he'd been struck with was an unconscious Ebisu. Looking around in confusion, he saw Sakura staring slack-jawed at a man with long-white hair sitting upon a toad. He had one hand with the first two fingers pointed up, a common one-handed seal used to concentrate chakra for jutsu without a long series of hand seals. Based on the unnatural size of the toad beneath him, the man most likely summoned it.

Instead of waiting for Sakura to forget her control exercises, Naruto stepped over Ebisu with a dark look over his face. "You got a reason for screwing with my friend, Teme?" Naruto allowed his aura to form an outline around him, his orange eyes glowing threateningly at the man. His smirk faltered a bit, before he settled on a slightly arrogant smile. "Something amusing? I could chop you into bits, maybe then I'd see what's tickling your funny bone…" Naruto swiftly stretched his left arm out to his side, his sword appearing in hand before he rested it on his shoulder.

"Naruto? What are you…" Sakura's aura exuded worry, the girl waving her hands in a placating gesture. "Naruto, stop! This isn't what you think!" Naruto looked to her, before looking back at the man and continuing to analyze his face and aura. The man was perfectly calm, as though he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Naruto's scowl softened, his aura receding as he turned his eyes back to Sakura.

"What's going on here? All I know is that your teacher just got launched into me by this guy. He's not even wearing a proper headband! No one uses 'oil' as a village symbol!" Naruto didn't see any headway from Sakura at his protests, the girl's aura emanating understanding while her eyes still told Naruto to wait.

"I know that, he's a unique ninja. Like Orochimaru… this is Jiraiya-sama, the Gama-Sennin. He's not active, but he is a Konoha ninja. He outranks everyone but the Hokage, Naruto." The man's smirk returned, a sense of pride emanating from the man. However, the man's entire aura was different than anyone else's he'd felt. It was fainter than most, but it felt like it was coming from everywhere. The emotions he carried flowed through the environment surrounding him, as though the forest itself were a part of his aura. "I don't know about the headband, but I do know that we have to let him be. He's undoubtedly working on something incredibly important!"

"Wait… Jiraiya? Ji-Ra-I-Ya?" Naruto asked, spacing each character to confirm the spelling. The man full-out grinned at Naruto, giving the boy the info he'd been fishing for. "You're the bastard that writes Kakashi-sensei's smut! Your name is on every one of those orange books of his!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at him, completely shocked at the military rank of the greatest pervert he'd ever heard of. "YOU are the Yondaime's legendary sensei?! Legendary loser by the looks of it! How the hell did you start writing that shit if you're such a great ninja?!"

"HEY! That SHIT as you call it is my life's work! And like your little girlfriend TOLD you, I have some very important research to do for that work!" The man returned to looking into a peep-hole in the wall of the Konoha Public Bathhouses. As he did so, Naruto looked at Sakura and waved sharply at Jiraiya to portray disbelief. Sakura found herself dumbstruck, stopping herself from looking and breathing deeply. It seemed that she would subconsciously channel chakra to her limbs when she grew too angry, instinctively releasing it on impact to cause super-strong impacts. It was a nice combat skill, but a troublesome temper reaction.

"I got the perv, Sakura-chan. Try to wake Ebisu-sensei, this guy might give me a little challenge." Naruto walked closer and closer to Jiraiya, letting his aura flow throughout him with his frustration at the man. "Ero-jii, get your ass away from there! Those baths are for relaxing; your little peep-show gets in the way of that!" A chorus of screeches followed Naruto's shouted statements, Jiraiya's aura falling into a sort of despair as the women fled to the changing rooms. Naruto stood with a grin and his arms crossed, proud of having wrecked the man's lecherous research.

"No! You damned punk! Do you have any clue how long it'll take for this bath to be so busy again?! I had every body type RIGHT THERE!" The man leaped from the toad, said toad vanishing as the man rushed Naruto as quickly as he thought would intimidate him. Taking it as a challenge, Naruto crouched and swept with his leg swiftly.

"Konoha Reppuu!" The man was caught off guard, both by Naruto's speed and by his fighting style. Naruto noticed his aura portraying great surprise and… and pride? Standing straight, Naruto looked at the man with confusion and interest. He shook his head and then relaxed on the ground, laughing heartily. Naruto and Sakura were both confused, the latter still trying to awaken her instructor. "Hey, shut up and get on your feet! That joke of a charge won't stop me from teaching you a lesson!"

"A lesson? HAHAHAHAHA right, YOU teach ME a lesson! That's rich, kid!" Jiraiya continued laughing on the ground, before he flipped to his feet all of a sudden. "But if you think that was anywhere near my best, then you haven't got a chance against Orochimaru." Naruto's face betrayed his shock at the statement, having forgotten that Sakura mentioned him. Seeing Naruto's confusion, Jiraiya elaborated his statement. "The first thing she told you to make you back off was that I'm like Orochimaru, which tells me you've encountered him. And if you're the type to berate me for my glorious research, then you're also the type to oppose Orochimaru. I'm NOT like Orochimaru, by the way."

Naruto lowered his sword from his shoulder, looking at Jiraiya as seriously as ever. "He came after my team, specifically. I can't forgive him for that, and when I find out what he tried to do to Sasuke I might just kill the little rat." Naruto was seething at the various things he'd imagined the Cursed Seal being for, knowing only that it was connected to the demonic aura that Orochimaru somehow carried.

"He's a bastard snake, not a rat." Jiraiya's own face became serious, Sakura having given up on Ebisu to listen to the two. "Tell me; was there a black tattoo of some kind right after this Sasuke fought Orochimaru? A mark that gave off an unusual power?"

"It was a demonic aura, and yes there was. I took care of it, what's it to you?" Jiraiya's eyes went wide as his aura flared with surprise and worry, the man immediately moving close and putting his hands on Naruto's shoulders.

"Took care of it how?! What did it look like, what did you do to it? Is your teammate still alive?!" Jiraiya seemed very flustered, but for a reason that Naruto couldn't place. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to elaborate, but he felt a need to be official for safety.

"You can ask the Hokage to call a meeting; I've got no reason to trust you!" Naruto shouted, pulling himself from Jiraiya's grasp as he turned away and started walking off. Jiraiya gave chase however, Naruto stopping his movement as he was about to round the corner back into the streets. He leaned against the wall as he pulled his sword back into his aura, crossing his arms while glaring at the man. He was Orochimaru's former teammate, which meant he might still hold some semblance of loyalty to the snake man. "What the hell do you want, Ero-jii? Go to the Hokage if you need more info, I'm not giving you shit."

"You already have, brat. Your teammate's alive, that's why you're hiding this so fiercely. Moreover, you told me you took care of it and called it a demonic aura. That implies how you know about it and that you have access to a power that could ruin someone's life. I'll ask one more time Uzumaki, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The man's aura was overwhelming, almost as though his aura itself was repeating the question over and over as Naruto stared back. Naruto scoffed, breaking eye contact with him.

"Follow me to the Hokage's office, I meant it when I said I don't have reason to trust you. Picking out my name doesn't change that, especially not with my reputation around here." Naruto shoved Jiraiya back with two palms charged with his aura, singing the man's red vest as he ran off toward the Hokage's mansion beyond common sight. Jiraiya patted himself off, giving chase after Naruto immediately. Sakura wanted to follow, but she knew that if she didn't stick with Ebisu she'd stay behind Naruto and Sasuke when it was time for the third-portion. She was stuck waiting; again.

-0-

Naruto arrived outside of the Hokage's window, looking in to see the man doing paperwork of some form. The blond knocked on the window before pulling it open, hopping into the man's office. Sarutobi smiled warmly at Naruto, please for the visit.

"Hey Jiji, good to see you. Wish I wasn't, but I'm here on business." Naruto said, catching a raised eyebrow from his grandfather-figure. "There was this white-haired guy peeping in on the ladies in the bathhouse, so I stopped him. I let slip that we encountered Orochimaru and that I messed with the mark on Sasuke, and now he's demanding the info. I told him the same as I'm doing now, that I would only talk here, with you present." Naruto for once wore a serious look, telling Sarutobi of his honesty and worry of the man's intent. He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, locking eye contact as he always had.

"His name is Jiraiya, he's the Gama-Sennin of Myoubokuzan. I'd imagine the 'Oil' headband threw you off, but that symbol represents Myoubokuzan; the home of the Toads." Sarutobi saw Naruto exhibiting relief, the man pleased that Naruto was able to calm a bit. "He's the foremost informant for Konohagakure, no one is more skilled in stealth tactics than him. Mind you, he still can't hide in my window-sill without my noticing." The white-haired man hopped in the window, a grin that Naruto frequently wore residing upon his face.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't trying to hide. But really kid, you've gotta tell me what the hell you did." Jiraiya said, Naruto crossing his arms and gesturing toward the corners with his head. Jiraiya groaned, understanding what he was trying to say. "Sarutobi-sensei, get those damn ANBU out of here. They're not even supposed to exist anymore." With that, Naruto felt the stoic auras of the hidden ANBU agents vanish, relaxing with a deep breath. "Nice detection skills, kid. Now, what did you do?"

"That's a long story, but I'll start with the incident. In the second-portion of the Chuunin Exams, I got separated from my team for a few minutes. Orochimaru caught up with them and apparently bit Sasuke's neck, leaving a mark that was shaped like Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan eye. We took shelter in a hollowed tree trunk, when I started looking at a sword that I managed to take from Orochimaru." Naruto said, Jiraiya's eyes widening at the implication. He looked to his sensei, the Hokage nodding affirmatively before Jiraiya went back to paying attention. "While I was looking at it, the thing pulled itself into the air and hovered above Sasuke's chest. Then, its demonic aura washed over Sasuke while the aura came out from the mark. The sword plunged down and through Sasuke's chest, down to the hilt. Then, the golden aura from the sword came out of Sasuke too. The mark shifted shape into Sasuke's clan crest, before the sword changed shape into a katana. After that, it changed into the golden aura and flowed into Sasuke through the mark."

Jiraiya's jaw-dropped, Naruto catching his breath from releasing all of the information in one go. "That can't be all of it, how did you know it was demonic and how did you take a sword that had a demonic aura from Orochimaru? Is that orange power of yours the Kyuubi's aura, is that how you did it?"

"Like I said, this is a long story. Sit down Ero-jii, this'll take a while to explain from the start…"

-0-


	9. Chapter 9

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 9 – A Grudge between Demons

-0-

Another week has passed by, and like every day of this week Naruto had started his day with a rigorous training and sparring session with Gai-sensei, whom Naruto had grown comfortable enough with to address as Gai-sensei. Now though, Naruto was in a training ground with Jiraiya while Gai checked on Lee at the hospital. Naruto felt saddened by his new sensei's burden, especially so by the brutal ending to Lee's fight according to Sasuke's recollection.

_00_

"_There was no reason to push any further, but Lee is a determined ninja. When Gaara had the chance to let him crumble exhausted, he seemed more interested in crushing that determination. He could've killed him… instead he crippled him."_

_00_

The images that Naruto thought up brought his anger and power to a boiling point, having actually incinerated the tree behind him upon hearing the news. It was for this reason that the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi demanded Jiraiya help Naruto gain a more effective grasp of his powers and their nature.

"Good. Now do it again." Jiraiya had worked with Naruto for the remainder of the day after Sarutobi mediated Naruto's paranoia, the Sage having found nothing wrong with the seal. The Kyuubi was contained exactly as it was supposed to be, but Naruto's body had shown significant physical change. Not to the untrained eye, or even the trained medical eye, but to one who'd developed seals specifically for demonic containment the differences were clear to the Gama-Sennin. His skin had no blemishes beyond his whisker birthmarks, and whenever anything drew blood there was barely time for even one drop to bleed before the flesh had closed. The skin and body took damage, but even fatal blows were superficial as they healed immediately.

The man had become intent on teaching Naruto high-control techniques, precursory to special moves that would require a near perfect control of a power as volatile as his now-natural aura. What Jiraiya had Naruto doing right now was a three-step control exercise, which if done correctly might allow Naruto to use a new jutsu.

The old Sage had Naruto swirling his aura through a water balloon held in his hand, the idea to cause it to burst in each direction like a small bomb. The problem was that each time Naruto tried to spin his power through it, the water boiled and the balloon shrank; the real problem there being that even then it would split in the middle, rather than bursting outward. He couldn't help but feel like what was normally his advantage was more commonly a hindrance. Growling to himself as the next balloon began to shrink, Naruto lost his patience and forced his energy straight outward from his hand. The result was the explosive-shaped pop he'd been working at every afternoon that week, even though the method was from a lack of control.

"Unusual." Jiraiya seemed to notice the difference, Naruto groaning and ruffling his hair feverishly. "I'll give you the bit I wanted you to figure out, but only because I wasn't expecting you to be strong enough to do that on accident." Jiraiya grabbed a water balloon as he had to initially demonstrate, holding it gently in his hand. It began to shake, small bumps appearing parallel each other along the balloons surface. The bumps grew far more numerous before most every point across the balloon pressed outward away from each other until it burst, the water splashing outward in each direction. "You need to spin your energy in multiple directions at one time; it's normally only possible to pop the balloon by doing so correctly. Let's give it a few more tries."

"Why should I even bother?! I have more than enough strength to concentrate a fireball into my palm and shove it into someone, isn't this effectively the same type of attack?" Naruto was beyond frustrated, personally doubting his ability to manage any form of control while upset like this.

"You remember how that Hyuuga girl of yours got beaten up? Not the event, the exact movements that other Hyuuga made against her? Looked like he was just poking, right?" Naruto nodded, Jiraiya smiling at the blond. "That's pretty much the method you say you want to use, but with your extra potent strength. Now, think about that pretty pink-haired girl. You mentioned her occasionally accidental super strength?" Another nod came from the blond boy. "The perfectly timed application of chakra release allows it, that's why she can do it at all; her nearly perfect chakra control. If you can control the application and release of the energy, the potency of your power will probably make this shredding attack into an obliterating attack. My Rasengan can blast a hole through a wall; yours could probably level a building if you manage to control it correctly."

Even to Naruto's brazen spirit that grounded him a little. While he could perform feats of incredible strength, it used a logically proportionate amount of his energy. As he grew tired and exhausted, the fatigue would vanish while his aura would weaken and start running out. He only noticed in his fights with Gai, but it was definitely the case. His aura seemed to bolster every fiber of his being, but strain and damage caused it to begin wearing out.

"Fine… I'll try it again." Naruto picked up the balloon, deciding to give it a shot. He had been imagining a ball of his aura, which then became a spinning disc. This time, he imagined that disc duplicating and overlapping. It was difficult to focus it in this way, but as he imagined the balloon around it and the energy bouncing against it something strange happened within his mind. The images sort of took on their own life, the discs becoming innumerable and moving in literally each direction. He was forced to open his eyes when scalding water washed over him, opening them to see a blazing red sphere of what seemed to be red lines moving around each other in perfect sync. As Naruto grinned and felt elation appear, the red bled away and revealed orange lines doing the same thing. The sphere finished transitioning into orange, and Naruto looked at Jiraiya; the Sage wore a grim, disappointed look though.

"That wasn't all you, boy." Jiraiya said, Naruto growing frustrated with the man and glaring at him. What he didn't expect was for the orange Rasengan to explode violently in his hand, concussive force knocking himself and Jiraiya away extremely quickly. Jiraiya vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by a scorched log that had sat near the explosion. Jiraiya stood with his arms crossed, staring and the row of downed trees following Naruto's flight-path. The blond sat up rubbing his head, groaning about the man's point. He was surprised to see that he had been launched over twenty meters away.

"Whoa… how did that happen?" The blond rushed back to Jiraiya, impatiently wanting to replicate the event in a more effective setting. "What was that? How did I do it? How do I do it again?" Jiraiya slugged Naruto in his face, the boy not prepared for the strike to actually cause such pain. It was almost as though his aura was what was struck, the ache lingering as Naruto corrected his position. "What the hell was that for?! That hurts!"

"YOU didn't do that, brat!" Jiraiya shouted, honest anger apparent in his eyes and his aura. Naruto's face softened as he felt the terror and heartbreak in the man's aura, unfamiliar with most of his teacher's caring at all. "Your power is colored orange to the human eye; the Kyuubi's is colored red to all beings who've viewed it to date. It transitioned into yours after the shape of the Rasengan was perfectly formed; this tells me it's able to influence you somehow. We've got to get you to speak with the Kyuubi; elsewise it might manipulate you somehow."

"Ok… how are we supposed to do that?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya smirking at the idea that he came up with. Naruto was a little unnerved, but then Jiraiya removed the large scroll that he carried with him. He unfurled it a bit, showing Jiraiya's name and fingerprints in blood at the top of a list. Below his name was only one other name, one that all in Konoha knew well. "The Yondaime?! What is this scroll, why is his name here?!" Jiraiya grinned, putting his hand against the ground. A wide circular seal with Kanji all about it appeared, before a plume of smoke rose from the seal and obscured Naruto's vision while the scroll was blown into his face. He and it were blown back five meters, Naruto able to see a figure through the smoke. Standing there was a great red toad, wearing a dark blue haori with a tobacco pipe in his mouth and a gigantic version of a Nintou sheathed on its waist.

"Jiraiya, what is the meaning of calling me here?! Do you need me to save your hide again?" The giant toad surprised Naruto by speaking, the boy grinning as he saw the technique he now presumed he was being offered. The toad looked down, spotting Naruto not by his body. "Hmm? What is this tiny demon down here? I thought they were all sealed away." Naruto found himself frustrated, almost infuriated by the great toad's statement.

"Hey! I'm not just some tiny demon, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next great Ninja Legend! You'd best remember that, toad!" Naruto shouted, jumping from the ground upward to the great toad's nose. Naruto summoned his sword, pointing it to the toad's right eye. "How about it? You up for the toughest fight of your life?" The toad threw his head back laughing, Naruto staying planted with the tree-walking method.

"You've got guts, even for a half-breed! Jiraiya, show yourself! Tell us the meaning of this encounter!" The toad's voice shook Naruto's whole being, the vibration of the mouth causing Naruto's legs great difficulty with holding on. Jiraiya appeared atop the toad's forehead, a grin on his face while he held his arms crossed before him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, allow me to introduce you to Gamabunta, the Chief of the Toad clan of Myoubokuzan. In his fight with the Kyuubi, 'Bunta here was the Yondaime's battle partner." Jiraiya didn't often make an introduction to Gamabunta, but it was when Naruto used the Kyuubi's aura accidentally that Jiraiya deemed it necessary. "Minato perfected the seal… unfortunately, I was right in the first place." Gamabunta nodded, Naruto the only one not understanding. He returned his sword to his aura, Gamabunta seeing the action as a way to start into the explanation he was undoubtedly called for.

"What do you call them?" Naruto was surprised by the question, the sword summoning itself to his hand with its kanji glowing brightly. The sword filled Naruto's heart with pride and joy, the exact same way it felt when Iruka finally started acknowledging him. He lifted the sword and looked at it, seeing the smiling faces of Zabuza and Haku behind it. "Come now, don't tell me you don't have a name for them. They've been with you for a while now, I can see it."

"How do you-" Naruto started in, feeling that he didn't need to ask that question as he thought. "Their names are Haku and Zabu-"

"Wrong." Gamabunta said, Naruto looking at Jiraiya confused. He was hoping to find some kind of answer in Jiraiya's aura, but it was like there was no difference between Jiraiya and Gamabunta when he tried. "They came together into that blade, and their souls became unified. The only way for that to happen is for the more stubborn and willful soul to desire an eternity with one who already considers the stubborn one a part of them self. They deemed you worthy of wielding them as a blade, this means the stubborn one trusts you to do that. By not giving them their own name here, in this form, you are holding them and yourself back." Gamabunta seemed very insightful, Naruto unable to detect a hint of dishonesty. There was even a sense of certainty, the kind of feeling one gets from stating facts that were proven before them.

"… There's one name I think they'd be happy with." Naruto said, Gamabunta smiling and looking to Naruto intently. "They were a ninja pair, and the more willful one was given the name 'Demon of the Mist'… Zabuza will have his name remembered, and Haku gets to serve him forever. From what I remember, it's what they wanted… Onikiri, the Demon of the Mist…" The sword's aura pulsed brightly, the kanji becoming white as the sword became a solid black.

The whole object became a blinding white as well, shifting shape this time. Its shape maintained its width, but the tip extended outward another tenth of a meter while tapering to a point. The color faded, revealing a long black broadsword with glowing orange vein-like lines from a silver sharpened edge all across the broadside of the blade. Five vein-lines rose from the sword's hilt, branching and bridging all across the piece as though it were all an extension of Naruto's aura. As he looked along the blade, he could swear he heard Zabuza laughing jovially behind him.

"The soul is a strange thing, its properties differ from being to being. Yours is quite special indeed, even before the Kyuubi. If it weren't its energy that you took for your own, it would've been another energy. You have a gift for connecting with others, Uzumaki." Gamabunta's and Jiraiya's auras felt the same, but they both told him that he'd done right in both of their minds.

"Why do you and Ero-sennin both feel like the same being? What is that?" Naruto surprised Jiraiya and Gamabunta with that, the extent of Naruto's gift something that they hadn't expected to go so far.

"You… you can sense my aura?" Jiraiya asked, the two emanating extreme surprise at the boy. As he nodded, Jiraiya couldn't help but continue speaking. "That's not a demonic power, Naruto… that's got to be you specifically. I've had to do extensive research on them, that's where the seal on you came from; and in all my research, that ability has only appeared in priests of immovable faith and the heads of the summon clans like 'Bunta here. I… I can't begin to guess at how you can do that…"

"I get it, I'm special. But why is it that you two feel like one?" Naruto asked, Gamabunta chuckling at the two on his head.

"He's the Gama-Sennin of Myoubokuzan, Kid. You have to learn to integrate your heart and soul with that of Myoubokuzan in order to claim that title, and that includes the souls of my brethren living there. As far as your sensing could tell you, he's the same as any of the Gama." Gamabunta said, Naruto nodding his understanding. He looked up to Jiraiya, whose expression still seemed a little serious. "There's something else, if I'm right. As for me, however, it's time for me to get going. Jiraiya, you teach this Kid whatever he needs to know. After feeling his aura I can allow him to summon us, but you'll be drinking a jug with us the day you come of age Kid. Until then."

With that, Naruto found himself falling to the ground quite suddenly. Jiraiya had appeared calmly on the ground, but Naruto left a small crater beneath either foot upon landing. He looked to Jiraiya, returning Onikiri to his aura while he waited for him to continue.

"I can think of a few ways to make the Fox talk to you, but we'll start with what should be the easy way." Jiraiya said, sitting down and crossing his legs. "If you've ever entered the center of yourself before, this will be easy, but if not then you might even need to summon that Onikiri of yours to help link your mind to your soul." Jiraiya said, Naruto sensing his aura blending into the ground, and then the foliage, and before long the air itself. "Simply focus on getting to the source of your power, that's where the Kyuubi is sealed away. Both are where most people say the heart is, the place where emotions and demonic power both stem from; the very core of your soul."

Naruto didn't feel like wasting any time, summoning Onikiri and sitting down with it sitting across his knees. He focused first on the sword, on the happy faces he'd seen within Hinata's mind when he first learned they were still with him. He allowed his control to relax, the grass around him being singed lightly at the energy that flowed around him. Jiraiya watched Naruto, seeing the boy's closed eyes leaking orange light from his closed eyelids. As the light faded, Naruto's aura pulled itself inward while the sword became orange energy once more and integrated back into his aura.

Jiraiya sighed, not able to leave the boy in this position for research. This kind of thing was why he only ever trained one team.

-0-

Contrary to his last experience, Naruto awoke in a dark and wet area. As his eyes focused, he saw that he stood in a sewer with lamps lining the walls at five meter intervals. They were dim lamps however, casting a dark yellow light throughout the sewer. The water was half a meter high, and it felt like it was ready to boil. Naruto found the scalding sensation familiar, and it actually made him feel more comfortable in the damp sewer.

Looking down the dark corridor, Naruto saw a faint red light. As he let his eyes focus on it, he noticed an orange mist floating above the water. Naruto wore a soft smile as he walked around the corner, seeing the red aura cloaking the prone silhouette a long way down the hall. His smile became a smirk, surprising himself with the emotion that associated itself with the original source of his suffering. Now… now things were different.

He calmly waded through the sewer, curious as to what the beast would have to say. Was it arrogant? Humble? Perhaps the beast was repentant of his actions, or perhaps simply repentant of having been caught and sealed? What did the ever terrible Kyuubi no Kitsune think of all that was occurring with it? With the hybrid who held it within himself like a jailer?

As Naruto entered the large chamber holding the Kyuubi and its aura, he noticed that it was behind massive iron gates held shut with a single piece of paper, upon which sat symbols of an origin Naruto was uncertain of. He looked beyond the gate, seeing his own mist-like aura stopped at the gate's boundaries. He simply stood and watched the silhouette, finding himself amused that the great Demon King itself was held behind a single piece of paper.

"So… here I am. Do you have anything to say to me?" Naruto asked, deciding to try and be civil for once. While it had done only one thing for him, the Kyuubi did show him the way to form demonic energy into the Rasengan. He was curious as to why the supposed King of Demons would do something like that.

The beast didn't stir at all, but Naruto could feel its aura releasing frustration and contempt. Naruto waited for another several minutes, not moving or shifting his gaze. And still, the Kyuubi did nothing but stew.

"Come on, here I come out of my training to chat with you, and you decide to ignore me. I could leave you alone, you know. Simply let you sit down here with nothing to do." A twinge of elation appeared in the abrasive red aura, Naruto taking that as a chuckle. "Am I amusing you? I missed the joke, please, gimme a laugh." At that the elation crested, an actual laugh bellowing out from the gate holding the great Fox. Two eyes opened in the darkness, their glowing red retinas cutting through the shadows.

"**My jailer impresses me, not many can sense an aura's emotions as their own. You are truly… interesting, Naruto…"** The Fox stepped forward, its long flame-orange snout revealing a devilish grin. Its angry red aura rushed forward toward Naruto like a wave of blood, but Naruto didn't flinch. From all around them Naruto's fiery orange aura countered, leaving the powers in a stalemate against each other as Naruto continued staring into the great red eyes of the Kyuubi. **"Most demons require this, a direct struggle between powers to feel the heart of an aura. You can feel it as though it was a part of you, and I can feel that through the struggle we now hold."**

"Thanks for the lesson, but I'm certain you've got more than that to say. After all, a lot has happened because of you." This got more laughter from the fox, said demon lying back down to bring its eye level closer to Naruto's.

"**Most of that doesn't have a thing to do with me, wouldn't you be the one with something more to say? How much of that courage in you is true Naruto?"** The Kyuubi asked, its aura denoting a sense of understanding. In the context, this led Naruto to believe the Fox knew far more than he'd been guessing.

"Every bit of it, you can feel that much." Naruto said, the Kyuubi chuckling at the blond. "Why not play a little game? Since you asked a question and I answered, how about we go back and forth for a while?" Naruto asked, the Kyuubi's grin widening just a bit. "Why is it that you helped me shape the Rasengan? Don't bother playing with the question, my power is very different from yours."

"**Oh is it now? I suppose you're an expert on demonic nature then. How about you tell me why your power is orange then?"** The Kyuubi asked, pointing out the fact that he almost naturally knew more on the topic than Naruto did. **"I helped you to show my reach. You cannot simply ignore me, Naruto."**

"You like repeating my name, huh? You know that's a pretty basic interrogation technique, trying to get me to trust you by using my name?" Naruto asked, the Kyuubi's eyes narrowing a bit as though to say that was too simple. "Thanks for the hand; it'll help me control my power a hell of a lot better. I'm still not quite satisfied with that answer, Kyuubi. Why would you help me?"

"**Play by your own rules, Naruto. My turn." **Naruto nodded and waved his hand before him, gesturing to go on. **"Why do you care about those foolish humans you cavort with? Even the Uchiha only holds power within that seal on his neck, the only kin you truly have is your little concubine. Why do you still care about the others?" **Naruto had to think a moment to realize he'd meant Hinata, this contributing to cause Naruto to laugh uproariously.

"Are you serious?! They have no clue that I'm really me, I'm no angrier than someone walking into me without looking!" Naruto got himself under control, walking closer to the gate. "No, they really don't know. Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba and everyone else who still treats me properly; they know. They can guess at my pain, but they know who and what I am and remain my comrades because of who I am. Hokage-jiji has always cared, especially when I was all alone. And he loves the villagers. That's two good reasons for it, that good enough for you?"

"**That depends on you, Naruto. My opinion of them matters very little."** The Kyuubi had gone very long without intelligent conversation, not since his last host did he even get a chance to speak; much less have a battle between auras.

"Fine, whatever. I see your point, but it doesn't change my mind at all." Naruto said, moving back to his turn for questioning. "You haven't answered my question properly. Why would you help me at all?"

"**I would help anyone that could benefit me without a chance of repercussion. In your case the repercussions are in my starting situation, here." **Naruto didn't expect that answer, not exactly. Regardless, it had been made clear that the demon wanted something of him. **"My next question is in regard to the girl I mentioned before; this Hinata that finds herself appearing in your thoughts. What is she to you? It's clear that you're her love interest, but what do you see her as?"**

"What does that matter?!" Naruto saw the Kyuubi's left eye open wider, as though cocking a non-existent eyebrow. "Right, your turn. I… I'm not exactly sure. I guess by that fact she's something to me… but it's different than it ever was with Sakura. Even before she had powers her aura made me… well, I guess flourish. I've never experienced that, I don't know what it means."

"**I do know what it means. But alas, it's your turn now." **The Kyuubi enjoyed this game, Naruto taking a deep breath to keep himself centered.

"I see where you were going with that, but I have business with you. What is it that you helped me for? And so I can be clear, I mean that I understand you helped me to get something from me. What is it you're trying to get?" Naruto was surprised to see the Fox's grin widen even more, its aura shifting completely over to an amused and elated tone. It was radically different than anything he'd ever heard of the Kyuubi's aura, implying it was sheer luck that Kakashi identified Naruto's power as different back in Nami.

"**That answer requires more information than simply responding, but that isn't the game. So I will tell you that I'm trying to gain revenge and fulfill an old promise along the way." **It was then that the Kyuubi stopped pressing outward with its aura, satisfied with its ascertained knowledge of Naruto's own aura. **"I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the source of your loneliness and your suffering. Naruto, why is it that you give me this chance to talk with such civility?"**

"Because… I don't buy the idea that you appeared from nowhere and attacked us." The Kyuubi lifted its head in honest surprise, the boy proving far more astute than even the Great Fox had dared consider. "Since I gained this power, I learned that everything is more complex than it looks. I can sense auras, and that lets me feel how complex a situation is. And if our day-to-day situations are so out of place, with such complex emotional reasoning… then I have to question your lack of reasoning in attacking us. From there I learned of your supposedly sudden appearance, which made it even less believable."

"**A most intelligent line of thought, you impress me again Naruto. Someday soon you may discover the truth of that night, and when you do I am eager to know your thoughts; MOST eager, in fact. It is your turn again, though." **Naruto was surprised at how well the Kyuubi followed the rule, further surprised at how civil it was being with him. It seemed as though he was onto something when he questioned the Kyuubi attack to begin with, but such difference from the reputation was quite unexpected.

"I need to be able to trust myself, and according to the ones who came together in my Onikiri you're bonded with me at the soul due to the seal. Is that true?" Naruto asked, seeing the Kyuubi's grin come down to a more comfortable width.

"**Yes, it is. This seal is different to the others that have bound me, while my own soul replaces the power this seal initially allowed you to draw my power into your chakra network. It mutated the chakra, from there the chakra mutated your soul and body. After the soul was mutated, it began producing your unique demonic aura while it perfected the conversion between human and demon through your chakra network. For what it's worth, the Yondaime did not intend upon that result." **The Kyuubi explained, Naruto feeling better about the Yondaime's seal. He didn't care much at all to start with, but what little he had felt was not positive. **"The submissive side of your sword, your Onikiri, it told you that it would change that girl if you saved her for certain. What would you feel if you were to know that she could've pulled through?"**

"You've wasted your turn Fox; you should know that you're the one who gave me that answer." The Kyuubi nodded in approval, emanating glee from the boy's improving intelligence. "Hinata… you knew I didn't know how I felt, because you also knew I couldn't know what the feeling was. And given that I simply couldn't leave her life to chance when I COULD save her… that must mean love." The Fox seemed satisfied, as though he'd been waiting for Naruto to admit such a thing. "Beside the point right now, I need to know if I can trust you. So… who are you getting revenge on?"

"**I'm afraid that's personal, even from the only one left to speak to." **Kyuubi said, its smile fading. **"I can offer you a promise though, Naruto. If you ask the correct question here and now, I will swear not to ever get in your way. I swear it on my soul, and as a demon yourself you know that it is literally everything that I am."**

"You've made it obvious, simply in the implied question you've been pressing." Naruto was surprised at how clearly he could think when he tried, jumping up to the gate and holding himself at eye level. He leaned his head through the bars, and looking the Kyuubi in the eyes he continued. "Almost every time you speak, you say my name. What's yours?"

With a wave of nostalgic elation, the Kyuubi smiled happily at the blond that in any other situation would have been doomed from growing so close. **"I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and my name is Kurama. You have my word, I will fight by your side until my soul is no longer my own."**

In a great red wave of power, Naruto's vision was covered and he returned to his conscious mind, leaving Kurama to smile at the boy's work.

'_**You have been told enough, Naruto… you will learn of my grudge, and you will keep it between us.'**_

-0-

Naruto awoke to Jiraiya with a much calmer disposition, many of his questions having gained their answers. Indeed new questions had arisen in their places, Naruto was still pleased to know what he did now. He saw Jiraiya staring at him, holding a rubber ball in hand. Once Naruto moved more than his eyes, the ball was thrown at him. He caught it, looking to Jiraiya quizzically.

"Your tenant was able to form the Rasengan and give you a direct, personal example of what to do. Now you've got to practice doing it right yourself." Naruto thought this step would be rather pointless, but as he remembered the way in which the Rasengan's component energy swirled, he found that he kept knocking the various energy rotations into each other. The ball bubbled in random directions, before one bubble was melted through and the ball flew from Naruto's hand in the opposite direction of the hole. He looked completely dumbfounded, Jiraiya grinning at him. "Well? You've got no shortage of that fiery spirit of yours; so that energy will keep on coming won't it? Here you go."

As Naruto caught another rubber ball, he growled about the difficult steps continuing to give him trouble. _'I'll get this down, I've got plenty of time to work on this before the exams! I just hope I get used to it by tonight…'_

-0-


	10. Chapter 10

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 10 – A Demon's Mercy

-0-

"It's not that Ichiraku's is all I eat, it's just my fav-" Naruto felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot through his body, looking off toward the Konohagakure Luxury Hotel. He had no clue what it was, but he knew that he couldn't ignore it. The feeling… it was the same as he felt when he thought Sasuke had died. Jiraiya hadn't expected Naruto to run off so suddenly, but he had seen that look cross his last student's eyes many times before when he'd taken up the mantel of Hokage. Except Naruto could feel extreme emotion from a great distance, and he'd grown to consider the village his territory. Whether or not he cared for the people, Naruto would always go running to help when something happened in Konoha.

And so, Jiraiya went off to the Hokage's offices. Naruto's teammates and Sensei had gotten him to understand that as the military and the police, Ninja must report all suspicious or criminal activities to the Hokage. Sooner or later, Naruto would show up there to keep the bureaucrats of the Hokage's mansion from finding cause to reprimand him.

-0-

He had no clue who it was, no idea what was happening or even if it had anything to do with him. But Naruto was incapable of letting this feeling go uninvestigated, in his opinion all of his powers were worthless if he couldn't stop this feeling from happening to others. The fact he felt it at all spurned his anger to drive his desire to investigate and help.

As Naruto arrived on top of the Hotel, two ANBU managed to catch his attention and hold him off. Naruto felt a powerful demonic aura lingering, as though someone had released a blast upon someone before leaving. The aura seemed to leave a trail, but the well of energy surrounded an aura that literally screamed in anguish and misery. He could hear a woman sobbing, and looking past the ANBU he saw two figures covered by white sheets; one sheet was already soaking in blood while the other only had one long blood stain. Naruto decided that it would be better to act as he was, a Genin of the village who was at a crime scene.

"What happened here? Is there enough of this non-classified to answer me that?" The two ANBU looked to each other for a moment, the one with a Falcon mask responding to him.

"There was a double homicide last night. I'm afraid that's all we're at liberty to say. The Hokage demanded we inform you specifically that this investigation is classified under his orders. I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san. You must move along." Naruto grimaced at the statement, but was able to mitigate his rage by focusing on the demonic aura's trail rather than the sobbing woman's aura. He looked around for several moments, before he came to rest on a similar aura off in the distance. It was moving incredibly quickly, either a demon hybrid like Naruto or someone using the Shunshin technique.

Naruto felt like time was of the essence, rushing off in that direction faster than ever.

-0-

Naruto was focused; all he could think of was people staying out of his way. It wasn't even that clear, in fact. _'Out of the way… out of the way… out of the way…' _As though moving everything from before him, Naruto moved in one leap from one end of Konoha to the source of the aura, the journey spanning only an instant. It failed to register though, as all he was focused on was getting to the aura. He ran along the surface of the building, rising to the open-windowed room of Rock Lee. And with sand splayed out across Gai's most precious person, Gaara stood fixated on Lee with a manic look on his face and throughout his aura. Naruto was still moving at a supersonic speed, however; the blond broke straight through the window, the sand coating Lee freezing into glass as Naruto literally blazed past. The red-haired boy, now covered in a glass mold of himself, was slammed into the wall opposite the window by Naruto. The mold shattered under Naruto's extreme force, Gaara being covered with small scratches. Given the proximity of the mold to his skin, the boy had experienced a small miracle.

"How dare you… you may have already ruined his life, but you have to kill him in cold blood too?! What happened to you?! What horrible event turned you into THIS?!" Naruto had grown extremely empathetic after months of being able to literally feel every person's anguish, and he was outraged that anyone would go so far to destroy someone. Naruto could feel through Gaara's aura that it wasn't about Lee, and there was only one person who would hurt from Lee's death any more than Lee did from Gaara's crippling brutality.

"It is who I am, it is what I am. It can't be changed, I was born this way. Do you really want to know?" Gaara glared hatefully into Naruto's eyes, but the boy's terror was almost as prominent as his murderous intent. Flames covered the hand that held Gaara, sand poised to strike Naruto falling to the ground as glass.

"You weren't fast enough for Lee, and my fire is faster. You're helpless if I wanted to kill you…" Naruto had to consciously keep his hand gripping the boy's shirt, his morals screaming against his instincts. He didn't want to kill a contestant in the exams, especially not when Lee could only truly recover by witnessing Gaara's defeat. Naruto had spent almost a whole month feeling Maito Gai's anguish for Lee, and at this point the boy felt as close to Naruto's own heart as Sasuke, Sakura or Kakashi. The boy was a part of his family now… and his instincts howled for this aggressor's bloody, burning death.

"Speed does not matter to me, I already serve the purpose I have taken. I was sealed with a demon spirit before my birth, and I killed the woman who gave birth to me in the process. I was made as a weapon for my village, and before I was even six years old, I was cast aside by my father. He sent assassin after assassin to eliminate me, but none delivered. And so, the false purpose of saving our village crumbled around me. From the pieces I took my new purpose, my true purpose." Gaara stared into Naruto's eyes, confusing the boy at what he saw. The eyes betrayed no fear, he truly believed he was in no danger at all. "I exist to destroy human life. When I see a person bleed through my sand, when I hear their screams I feel alive. All the world is filled with men and women for the purpose of making me feel alive."

Naruto growled, fighting against himself with all of his might to keep the boy alive. The next moment, however, Gai walked in. "That's enough." He put his hand on Naruto's left shoulder, looking his blond student in the eye. "Lee would not want this, Naruto." Naruto drew his own blood from the strength of his grip on Gaara, releasing the boy and dispelling the intense flame he'd created. "Be gone from here, the final portion of the exam is tomorrow. Wait until then for your fight."

Gaara walked to the door, not looking back. "None of you will survive. I was born to kill, and that is what I will do. Tomorrow, you will all make me feel alive."

-0-

As Naruto stood atop the Hokage monument overlooking Konoha, he contemplated the things that had happened over the past month. He had grown much more skilled since the second portion, and he'd grown close to two new people who had each taught him invaluable skills. But all of the good things from the rest of the month couldn't keep him from dwelling on Gaara's chilling statements. Naruto felt a familiar aura behind him, Hinata walking to the ledge he stood on.

"Sakura said you would be up here. Is something wrong, Naruto?" He looked to her, his face completely serious. It was the same look he wore after Neji had defeated her. "Do you need to talk about it? You know I'll always listen."

"Yeah… that's one thing I'm starting to understand." Naruto said, turning back to stare at the sun setting beneath the horizon. "One thing I can't understand is how someone could actually try to kill members of their family. Not just Neji, but that Suna ninja that Sasuke is going up against. Gaara says that his father has been trying to kill him since before he was six years old. Who… who in the world does something like that?" Hinata frowned at the anguish flowing out from Naruto, unfamiliar with this particular sensation. She decided she'd take a step she might not have before all of this, and pulled the boy into a hug from behind.

"You don't really need to understand that. It's not something that people like us can really understand." Hinata rested her head on Naruto's right shoulder, looking him gently in the eyes. "Not just because they're foreign, but because they value power so greatly that they'll do horrible things just to get more of it. You and I, our friends on our teams, even the Hokage finds joy in each other's happiness. Somewhere along the line, these people forget how that feels because they've lost someone precious." Naruto looked away with a grimace, wishing that there were some reason he really couldn't understand. It almost hurt more now that he could relate to them.

"It's just… his story sounds like another version of mine. He was implanted with a demon before his birth, but because of that he killed his mother being born. He was alone apart from his father, and according to Ero-sennin his dad's Kazekage. He was most likely raised all alone… somewhere along his path, he must have lost someone precious to him. People don't just become monsters from loneliness… they don't, right?" Naruto tried not to, but several tears dripped from his eyes along his cheeks. "He can't control himself properly; his aura isn't the only thing that influences his mind. When I had a grip on him earlier, he wasn't even the least bit frightened. But when I started melting his sand into glass, another entity in him was terrified of me. Yet he showed no fear at all, he seemed certain that he would kill me no matter what. How can anyone help someone like that?"

"If it's possible, you'd be the one to do it. Since revealing your own demon, everyone you've actually personally befriended is still your friend. You're a good person; you make everyone's lives better. If you really think he needs help, I'm sure you'll find a way to get through to him. It's who you are, Naruto. You help people." Hinata got a smile from him, feeling elation through his aura as the anxiety was relieved. The two stood there, watching the sunset while they thought of the day to come. It would be interesting, no matter what else.

-0-

Naruto and Hinata stood outside of the stadium, this venue having been chosen for the final portion of the exams; the public tournament. Here the ninja would get their chances to display their abilities in the hopes of being promoted, even though there could only be one winner. Even if they didn't win, this test was about their various abilities; taijutsu, ninjutsu, strategy, weapon placement and even temperament.

"Are you ready for this?" Hinata asked, Naruto's serious face shifting to an eager grin. Hinata could feel his anxiety's presence, but even still his desire to battle was finally going to be fed. He did embody many superstitions involving demonkind, and his ferocious combat sense was an obvious example. "I'll be watching with Kiba, if anything goes wrong I'll use my powers to keep everyone safe. I want you to focus on Neji… our Taijutsu attacks the chakra system, and eventually he can wear your body down enough times to drain your power away. Be careful."

"No worries, Hinata. I'm going to do Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei proud, just you watch." Naruto gave her a confident grin, jumping up to run directly toward the top of the stadium wall. Hinata laughed at what she had guessed as his planned entrance, already curious of what kind of reaction he would get.

Hinata wore a pleasant smile, walking in and toward the section Kiba had promised that he and Akamaru would be waiting at. Hinata could still feel Naruto's aura aching to fight, and she found herself hoping that Neji would survive their battle.

-0-

"Alright everyone, let's get started. First thing, has anyone seen the other two members of Team Seven?" A different proctor than the preliminaries stood before the assembled Genin, chewing on a tooth-pick with his headband tied in a reverse bandana with the knot on his forehead. When he saw Sakura shake her head worriedly, he continued on.

"We'll give Uzumaki until the beginning of the fights and Uchiha until his bout, as for Kinuta Dosu we've been told he won't be participating now. Better hope your boys show soon, Haruno." If any could sense among them, they would see that Sakura's determined look was a complete farce. "Anyhow, let's give you guys the officially amended run-down. Had to draw this up last night…" The proctor pulled a napkin from his back pocket, unfolding it and reading from a tournament tree drawn on it. "We have Uzumaki versus Hyuuga Neji to start, then Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku no Gaara, Nara Shikamaru versus Sabaku no Temari, Aburame Shino versus Sabaku no Kankuro, and the winner of the third bout will face off against Haruno Sakura to even our number. Neji and Gaara should be ready to fight each other; we can only give Uzumaki five more minutes until I change the roster."

Everyone but Neji and the proctor left the ground level, taking about two minutes to clear out. Once they were gone, Neji smirked to himself. _'Cowardly demon, it seems you understand the limit of your parlor tricks.' _The moment his arrogance began to emanate from Neji's aura, he spotted an orange spark floating toward the sun. It grew larger as Neji watched it, before he realized it was falling to the ground. Not only that, but it was larger than a simple spark.

A loud crash sounded, a flash of orange power shining from within a massive dust-cloud that had been kicked up. When the dust cleared, Naruto stood with his arms crossed in his new attire. He stared at Neji emotionlessly, no one certain of what was going to happen. "Sorry if I'm late proctor-san… this is the only situation where a ninja gets to be so flashy, right?"

"I guess so, glad to see you made it Uzumaki-san." As the man spoke, Naruto realized that he was the Falcon-masked ANBU that had instructed him to move along. Naruto kept himself reeled in, looking across the field to Neji's arrogant glare. The proctor raised his voice as loud as he could, properly opening the exams. "The first match of the Chuunin Exams Advancement tournament, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji; you may begin!"

"I'm surprised you were foolish enough to come to battle me, you should know that you're uniquely vulnerable to the Hyuuga's Taijutsu style." Neji said, holding his chin up to cast his eyes downward on Naruto. "Your power sustains you, and I can cut it all off. And afterward, I don't need to care about what happens to me; I will finish what I started and eliminate the ever-precious Main family heir."

"You know, I learned something during these exams so far." Naruto said, the voice coming from behind Neji. Said boy turned calmly, seeing nothing behind him. He turned back around, Naruto having vanished from there as well. Before he could guess again, Neji felt his chin get knocked skyward with incredible force. He had seen this move before, shocked to feel it connect with him. Naruto appeared behind him, rising at the exact same rate. As Neji felt Naruto's fingers touched his back, he anticipated and countered the motions to follow by spinning his body.

"Hakkeshou: Kaiten!" Chakra flowed out from Neji's tenketsu, a spinning sphere of chakra appearing around him and knocking Naruto back. Neji stopped spinning, his Byakugan active with his position corrected to fall feet first. Naruto wasn't through however, as Neji saw the blond jump toward him with his strange power focused within his arms and legs. As Naruto drew near, Neji prepared to react to his coming attack.

"Enten Senpuu!" Neji's eyes widened at the familiar yet altered name, the attack living up to that name as Naruto spun his body with a round-house kick. The moment he started kicking Neji saw a small bit of energy release from the end of his leg. The result of this action was the kick being set on fire, the extremely swift round-house striking Neji's torso firmly and launching him toward the stadium wall. Naruto landed gently on the ground, the flames dispelling once the kick had connected. Neji, however, experienced his jacket catching on fire all at once.

Neji grunted in pain and frustration as he pulled the jacket off, throwing it away. "So you've been training with Gai-sensei, have you? The fool never could stand how superior our Taijutsu is, it makes sense that he would want you to use it against me. I've never seen that move, though." Neji said, frustrated that he had let Naruto get an attack in. "Never mind your secret Gouken techniques; you cannot defeat my Jyuuken with such tricks!"

"I learned that talk is cheap. You know moves like mine, so you think they're the same." Naruto vanished from Neji's sight entirely, the Hyuuga boy feeling panic swell within him. As he turned his head slightly, he immediately saw Naruto standing on the wall behind him. "I also learned that every move has a weakness. Even your 'perfect' eyes can be completely useless if someone pays attention in the right way." Naruto once more vanished, Neji feeling the air rushing around him. The boy acted on instinct, spinning into another Kaiten. Naruto stopped at the edge of the Kaiten, waiting for the boy to stop spinning. "When you give someone an easy explanation, they don't normally look for the truth. Your eyes let you see behind your head, so you assume they can see in EVERY direction."

"That doesn't matter, you have only one direction from which I can't prepare a counter-strike and my impenetrable defense is too much for you. Admit it, if you can't land a hit, you can't win this fight!" Neji charged Naruto, who put his feet together and extended his arm in the Gouken stance. "That won't work!" As Neji lashed out with a twin chakra strike for Naruto's lungs, his arms went through Naruto and felt as though they were on fire. When he pulled his hands back, the flesh was red and still felt as though it burned.

"You assume that because you can see chakra that you can tell the difference between me and a clone, but I've trained for half a year with an Uchiha. I know how to trick his eyes, what hope have you got?" "Naruto" exploded, flames charring the ground and trees around the clone. Neji covered his eyes, the burst of power causing him pain and forcing him to revert to his average sight. Somehow the power was too bright for Neji's Byakugan to withstand; the Hyuuga boy couldn't understand it. "If you run a mission playing your team's strengths, and you fail to consider the enemy's own preparations, people will die!"

Neji once more felt himself fly skyward from an under-chin kick, Naruto once more appearing behind him. Neji utilized his Kaiten yet again, not willing to allow this attack to go through. However, he didn't anticipate Naruto rising after him slowly, reaching the apex of his jump as Neji finished his Kaiten. The Hyuuga looked to the sky, seeing Naruto beginning to fall toward him. He activated his Byakugan again, but this forced him to close his eyes and de-activate it. Naruto was shrouded in his aura, landing gently in front of the downed Neji.

"Your skills are limited, Neji. Without your Byakugan you're nowhere near my level." Naruto said, Neji standing in his Hakke stance with tear-filled, bloodshot Byakugan eyes.

"You're within range, demon trash!" Neji rushed forward, but before he could do anything his arms were restricted by a Naruto clone locking him in a full-nelson. Naruto walked to Neji slowly, looking him in the eye with his glowing retinas.

"You're done, Neji. You've embarrassed yourself thoroughly enough for me, but look at yourself." Neji spat in Naruto's face, the blond grinning at him. He raised his voice to put a chill in the audience as well, having made the Hyuuga boy lose his temper. "YOU ARE AT MY MERCY, NEJI! I HAVE THROWN YOU ALL AROUND THIS ARENA LIKE A BROKEN DOLL! YOU LIVE BECAUSE I ALLOW YOU TO!" Naruto kicked Neji in his stomach, knocking his breath away and his body into the clone. They impacted the wall firmly, the clone exploding into flames. Neji's screams filled the stadium, Naruto walking to the Hyuuga once more. "DO YOU SUBMIT?!"

Neji didn't move; his red, blistered flesh still sizzled as his charred clothes ceased burning. Naruto waited until Neji managed to meet his gaze, glaring hatefully at him. Naruto cast him a satisfied smirk, turning and walking off calmly. As Naruto stepped ten meters away, Neji groaned and pulled himself to his feet. The boy charged off after Naruto, pushing every bit of chakra through his arms as he struck Naruto's lungs. _'Finally! Even he can't survive without his energy!' _Naruto stopped walking, but he didn't fall as Neji expected. Watching his lungs, they didn't even quiver. The attack was completely ineffective. Naruto looked back over his shoulder, Neji freezing under his gaze. The entire stadium had gone silent, everyone straining to hear what might be said next.

"You see, Neji? You live because I allow you to. Don't you dare forget it." Neji's eyes filled with tears once more, blood seeping from cracks in the charred flesh upon his back. "I allow you to live because of this." He turned around and pressed his hand against Neji's forehead protector, said head band increasing in heat. Neji's eyes widened as his screams returned, the cloth of the forehead protector burning away as his flesh began to burn. The edges around the metal plate drew blood, before the searing metal cauterized it shut. "I know all about your curse mark." Neji's eyes fixed on Naruto's, his screams becoming hoarse groans. "I decided to give you a new one, to help you remember. Every time it hurts, every time you see yourself in a mirror, forget that you're a Hyuuga. The reason you are alive…" Naruto took his hand away, the metal plate firmly bonded to the skull beneath Neji's flesh, "… is because you were wearing this headband when you crossed me."

"Uzumaki, that's enough." Naruto didn't look at the proctor, he simply turned and walked toward the contestants' viewing boxes. As Neji crumbled to the ground in a heap, a medical team rushed out to his side. Naruto vanished from sight, reappearing in a corner of the afore-mentioned viewing boxes behind Sakura and Shikamaru. The proctor cleared his throat, declaring the match. "Victor by overwhelming force, Uzumaki Naruto."

The stadium erupted with the applause and roars of the foreign spectators, almost every Konoha native shocked into silence. For years the villagers had alienated and occasionally even assaulted him, but through all of the abuse he never attacked them. It was common knowledge that Neji had tried to kill Hinata, a fellow Konoha ninja and member of his clan. His reaction to the event was also well-known, and everyone who could attended the tournament to see this match. Now Naruto's intent seemed clearer. He did not retaliate to transgressions upon his own person, but he would make you hurt if you transgressed upon his comrades.

The atmosphere was extreme now; Naruto's brutality had raised the bar for an entertaining fight. The proctor seemed to be waiting, before his voice once more echoed throughout the stadium. "We have been informed of a change in scheduling, will Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari please come to the battlefield?" Shikamaru sighed, while Temari grinned and immediately hopped out of the open window to reach the ground swiftly. Shikamaru looked to the clouds, wishing he was anywhere else.

"Maybe I should just forfeit, it'll be way too hard to advance now… besides, I don't want to be a Chuunin." Shikamaru said, Sakura scoffing at him.

"It's not about what you want, Shikamaru! You're a ninja of our village, you've gotta do your best!" Shikamaru did his best to ignore her, but he wasn't prepared to be pushed out the window from behind. "Wha- Shikamaru?!" Sakura looked to her left to see Naruto, Sakura looking at him sternly. "You could've killed him, you know."

"Relax, Shikamaru's got the skills. He just doesn't have the willingness to use them." Sakura put her hands on her hips and shifted her head to the other side, implying she hadn't meant Shikamaru. "He tried his hardest to kill a comrade. If I hadn't saved her, she could've died. At least I only tried to hurt him." Sakura sighed, shaking her head.

"You're really starting to love her, aren't you?" Naruto choked on his own breath, looking off in the distance. Sakura smiled sadly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You know the Hyuuga won't just leave that alone. Are you ready for that?" Naruto turned and walked toward the door, not looking her in the eye once.

"I need to go speak to Hinata's father. He needs to hear why from me." Naruto walked away, Sakura sighing once more and looking down as the fight began.

-0-

"So he will survive, then?" Hyuuga Hiashi was not the most compassionate man in public. By Hinata's memory, he was an excellent father and uncle, but he would not show this to the world. It hurt the man deeply that Neji had tried to kill Hinata, but it also hurt the man to see his nephew writhing in agony. "Is it… is it possible to remove the plate?"

"I'm afraid we don't have the skills necessary, not without killing him at least. His body's been thrashed, and his skull was fractured around the edges of the forehead protector. The plate was melted, and it seeped into the cracks in his skull. I can't even begin to theorize a way to remove it…" The medical ninja could see Hiashi activate his Byakugan, looking closely at the damage. "The only way his skull could ever heal is without the plate lodged in those cracks, and we can't remove the plate with his skull in such a fragile state. I… I'm sorry Hyuuga-sama, he's stuck like this."

Hiashi looked to the ground as he let his eyes revert, turning and leaving the medic to ensure the rest of Neji's health was intact. As he entered the hallway, he found Naruto leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He couldn't help but feel his anger well up, but he pushed it back down for the sake of speaking.

"… why would you let a Hyuuga live like this? Our cursed seal is a precaution, in case of capture or death. Now the side-effects of the seal are all that remain, he will always feel the pain from that plate." Naruto looked Hiashi over, surprised at the man's ability to hold himself back. Even his aura was being powerfully restrained.

"Because he tried to kill Hinata. He ignored what these headbands represent… so now he can't ever ignore it again." Naruto stood from against the wall, looking Hiashi in the eye. "If I ever see proof that he's changed, I'll help him to heal. I'm the only one who knows exactly what I did to the headband, and I'm the only one who can survive flames hot enough to melt it off of him." Naruto said, Hiashi sighing as a tear fell from his face.

"I do not beg, Uzumaki. But you care for my daughter, a gentle soul if ever there was one. You can't be the hateful being you've tried to pass yourself off as." Hiashi's aura was conflicted between his love of his family and his honor as the Hyuuga clan head, barely able to restrain his tears. "I ask you, as the father of the young woman who loves you. Let my nephew have his life, as it was. I swear that he will see the true error of his ways." Naruto continued watching Hiashi, tears trailing from his stern face and firm eyes. Naruto sighed, and nodded to the man.

"I knew I would have to correct this soon, but I expected Hinata to be the reason. I'm impressed, Hyuuga-sama. Now come back in, the medic will need your sight to heal the bleeding when I take it out." Hiashi's aura lost its disciplined restraint, his anguished love for his family consuming Naruto's own being. "He's been publicly punished for his actions, and I won't apologize for that. But I do apologize for making you feel this way; Hinata cares for you more than anything. Neither of you deserved to feel this."

The two entered the medical station, the medic-nin glaring at Naruto. "He's here to help, just do as he says." The medic scowled, but walked over to Neji and waited for Naruto to speak.

"I need you to be healing him as soon as I start heating the plate, I'll only be softening it. Most of the work is yours, you need to make his skull's healing presses the hot metal out while numbing his pain to keep the muscles out of our way. If I liquefy any part of it like I did to start it could drip into his brain." Naruto flipped Neji over, holding his head up over the edge of the bed. He began channeling his power through the metal, feeling it heat up. The heat traveled into Neji's skull, the medic-nin using a healing technique to mend the cracks and numb the pain. Naruto allowed the healing and gravity to pull the metal away, careful not to pull himself. As the main plate fell out, Hiashi tapped his shoulder.

"There are still shards in the cracks, we can't heal the skin yet." Naruto growled, carefully focusing his power on the edges where the plate had left shards behind. He kept the flesh burnt back, while several shards of metal fell out from Neji's face. Hiashi kept his hand on Naruto's shoulder for another few seconds, removing it after the last shard fell from Neji. Naruto stopped channeling his energy, allowing the flesh to heal. The medic left Neji on his stomach, going to work on his charred back. Hiashi breathed out a sigh of relief, Naruto rubbing his forehead. "I'm relieved that Neji is going to make a full recovery now, but you'll understand if I deign not to thank you for undoing your own damage."

"Yeah, I understand. I just hope that Hinata can forgive me… she begged me not to kill him, but I don't think so much pain is a whole lot better." Naruto said, turning and walking away. Before he could get far, Hiashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder again.

"She cares for you more than even she is aware, as long as you regret your actions she will do more than forgive you. Believe me, she won't have a choice." Hiashi said, Naruto turning back around and looking him in both eyes. He glanced to Neji, before he turned back to Hiashi.

"Why tell me this? Don't you want her to be happy with someone else? Someone the villagers don't ostracize, someone she can have a calm life with?" Hiashi chuckled a small bit, seeing Naruto's naïveté showing through.

"Who she's happy with isn't my choice. As for a calm life… she's chosen to be a ninja. It would be a disservice for her life to become calm." Hiashi left Naruto, walking off to return to his seat where his younger daughter awaited him. As he did, he couldn't help but smile sadly to himself. _'Minato-san… even in the throes of demonic rage your son refused to kill a comrade. He might be different than anyone had ever guessed… but he is definitely still your son.'_

-0-


	11. Chapter 11

Demons in the Dark: The Hell Gate

Ch 11 – The Demon's Roar

-0-

Naruto had almost walked the entirety of the distance to where Hinata sat, looking up as he heard Akamaru barking from atop Kiba's head. The blond saw the feral boy waving to him, Hinata sitting beside him with a frown on her face. Her aura felt as though she was disappointed, as opposed to angry with him. He supposed that he'd gone too far, and that he really should've come up with a better plan than he had. Naruto came up to Hinata's side, scratching his head as he and the girl felt the overwhelming fear surrounding them in the auras of the civilians seated around them.

"You didn't have to go that far… he'll never be a ninja again with a plate stuck in his skull." Hinata said, Naruto nodding with a sense of shame emanating from within. He was surprised to feel it, having been completely certain that he'd intended on killing Neji.

'_At least I know I'm still a little human after all this…' _"I know that. I wasn't thinking before, I can't let my temper get the better of me like that. I was able to help the medics remove the plate from him, but I feel bad about doing that in front of you." Naruto said, a frown on his own face as well now. Hinata sighed, smiling up at Naruto with an understanding look in her eye.

"I probably would've reacted worse if someone had threatened you like that, so I guess I can't stay mad at you for it." Hinata said, Naruto starting to feel a little better about his actions. While the shame did fade, he found that he still wasn't able to accept that he would go so far without actually losing control. He was truly ashamed, not for what he did, but for the fact that he could've stopped any time and didn't.

"So what's going on with the tournament? I can feel Gaara from here, that guy's out for blood and he's getting sick of waiting." Naruto asked, Hinata waving toward the field.

"Shikamaru forfeit because he ran out of chakra a short while after he caught Temari in his family's Kagemane technique, and that Kankuro guy forfeit before he even left the fighters' box. Sakura and Shino are gathering in the middle for their fight now." Hinata answered, looking over to Naruto with a slightly apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I don't know that Sakura has a chance against Shino. Sakura's main trick against Ino was catching her off guard and knocking her out against the wall, I don't think she'll even be able to get close to Shino."

"Heh, I gotta agree with her Fox-boy. Shino's got me and her as sparring partners most of the time, he knows more than most guys about keeping people at a distance. And I'm not makin' a metaphor, either." Kiba said, the three paying attention to the field as a powerful whirlwind appeared out of nowhere. Kicking the leaves up into this sudden gust, Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in between Sakura, Shino and the proctor. Sasuke had taken on an all black version of the outfit he had worn for the months preceding the exams, this outfit differing as a one-piece suit. Beyond this, Sasuke's left arm was bandaged from beyond his sleeve to the middles of his fingers. Naruto stood up, walking down to the railing before looking down at Sasuke and scoffing.

"See down there, Hinata? I told you black was overdone!" Naruto said, Hinata simply smiling at him and shrugging her shoulders. "I want a better view for this one; I'll catch up with you guys after the tournament." With that, Naruto vanished from sight to move over and into the contestants' viewing box.

-0-

"Would either of you mind allowing us to resume the original order of the tournament? I was given instructions to make sure that this fight starts as soon as possible." The proctor asked, Sakura nodding happily as Shino simply walked back toward the ground exit from the field. When Sakura and Shino had both left the field, Sasuke looked up to the contestants' viewing box where Naruto looked down at him with a challenging grin on his face. Sasuke felt an aura shift positions very quickly, turning around to see a smiling Gaara waiting for the proctor to begin the match. "I trust the both of you are ready for this?" The proctor asked, Sasuke nodding while Gaara ignored the man. "Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku no Gaara, begin!"

Neither of the two seemed to do anything for a minute after the proctor spoke up, but as a few more seconds passed Sasuke suddenly vanished, appearing behind Gaara with a fierce kick to his back. The red-haired boy flew into his own trap, a dome of sand rising up over him at the same instant as Sasuke's kick. The sand fell gently to the ground, Gaara standing back up and looking back at Sasuke in shock. "That can't be, I ruined him! How can you be as fast as that fool?!" Gaara seemed honestly surprised at Sasuke's speed, said Uchiha standing in his interceptor stance across from the red-head.

"Believe me, Lee isn't the fastest one in Konoha. Perhaps the hardest worker, but not the fastest." Sasuke said, Gaara scowling and raising his hands, sand rising from the edges of the stage. This sand spread across the floor of the field, a sphere forming around Gaara as the sand flowed into him. The sphere didn't change in size, but most of the ninja watching understood that the sphere must've grown extremely dense. Sasuke chuckled, looking down at his hand. He clenched his fist, focusing energy into it as he took off toward Gaara's sphere. Sasuke hadn't noticed the eye floating above it, unprepared for a wall of sand-spikes to extend out toward him. He stopped himself a foot short, luckily avoiding impalement on the various spikes. Before the sand could move to attack again, Sasuke jumped backward and stuck to the wall.

"You can't stop me! No one can defeat me, I will kill every worthless human there is!" Gaara shouted, shards of sand launching from the spikes in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke's eyes changed, activating his Sharingan; it had changed, though. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes no longer took on a red color, but a vibrant golden shade that mirrored the Kusanagi's aura. He evaded the swift shards, scowling at the tactics.

"If you're planning to finish this quickly, I'm more than willing to help out!" Sasuke brought his hands together, forming three hand seals ending in the Monkey hand seal. Sasuke put his left arm down in front of him, grasping it at the wrist with his right hand as a powerful electrical current enveloped his hand and forearm. He pulled his arm back, before he charged faster than Gaara's third eye could detect. "Chidori!" The next thing the red-haired boy knew Sasuke was behind the sphere with his arm clear through it, his hand resting just behind Gaara's back. The electrical charge of the Chidori had pierced the boy's back, and the surrounding flesh was numb. Gaara coughed once, spitting blood out onto his sand-sphere. As his sphere gripped Sasuke at the arm, Gaara stared at the blood before his eyes.

"Is that… my blood…?" Gaara's confusion had overshadowed all other emotions in the stadium, Naruto and Hinata each getting a bad feeling about the intensity of Gaara's aura. That confusion shifted into terror and hatred, as though he truly believed he could never be harmed. "MY BLOOD!" A blood-curdling shout erupted from within Gaara's sphere, Sasuke grimacing and clenching his left hand into a fist. Focusing his energy into his muscles, Sasuke ripped his arm out of Gaara's sphere. The bandages on Sasuke's arm allowed him to safely tug his arm out, but the bandages were left behind. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Gaara's sand launched into the wall in front of him, creating a five meter tall hole leading out into the city.

The red-haired boy launched out into the city, the sand clinging to him like a second skin. Naruto growled, looking around himself to see the almost everyone in the stadium had fallen asleep. He'd been so pre-occupied with the occurrences in the fight that he hadn't noticed any change, scowling as he saw Suna ninja and Oto ninja arriving from nowhere. He looked down to the hole Gaara had left, Sasuke having taken off after him. Naruto couldn't feel Sasuke's aura anymore, but he could feel Gaara's clearly. It carried an incredible sense of anger and despair, so much so Naruto could safely assume the boy had literally gone mad.

Naruto focused his energy in a thin column in front of him, jumping and widening that column at the same instant to arrive at Hinata's side as though teleporting. He kicked an Oto ninja through the wall, blood spurting from the point of impact. "What the hell is this?!" Naruto shouted, allowing his instincts to take over as he focused his power into the end of his fist. He punched at a Suna ninja across a group of civilians from him. The ninja was struck back with enough force to be knocked out, landing between two rows of seats on his back.

"Some kind of invasion, we have to evacuate the civilians!" Hinata used a pulse of her energy to dispel a Genjutsu on Kiba and Akamaru, inadvertently canceling the Genjutsu on all of the people on that half of the stadium. Just then Kakashi appeared, dropping a pair of unconscious ninja as he called out to them.

"Hinata, evacuate the civilians! You know where to take them, get the civilians to safety now!" Naruto also turned to start carrying people away, but Kakashi called out to him. "Naruto, you have to go help Sakura! She and Shino went after Sasuke and Gaara; you have to keep her out of that fight! Gaara is way beyond her league, Sasuke can hold him off!" Naruto looked like he was going to argue, Kakashi performing a Konoha Senpuu and dispatching two more ninja attempting to sneak attack him. "Now, Naruto! Go protect your team!"

Naruto didn't have the time to argue, Kakashi was right. Naruto formed a column leading to the roof, vanishing before looking off toward Gaara's aura. _'Damn it! He was so slow in that fight, how is he outrunning Sasuke?! I can't wait any longer!' _Naruto jumped toward Gaara's aura, using his energy to form an invisible cone before him. Air offered no resistance, gravity failed to take hold, and light blurred together into a muddy image.

-0-

Within that instant Naruto arrived at Gaara's aura, his speed slowing as his vision cleared. He tried to land on a branch, but he went through it as though it were a cloud and crashed to the ground in a fifteen meter wide crater. "Gaara!" Naruto shouted, looking up to where the aura resided. There was no response however, the red-head fixated on Sasuke. He was very different from just five minutes earlier, the sand having shifted and merged into his body to form what appeared to be a half-demon form. He left side looked like some kind of sand-formed raccoon, blue and red vines arcing in various places. His left eye had a black cornea, the retina sickly yellow with a pupil shaped like a four-pointed star.

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL CRUSH YOU IN MY HANDS!" Gaara seemed to have completely lost it, sweeping a large clawed arm at Sasuke. The Uchiha jumped back, only for a larger copy of the same hand to grab him from behind. "THOSE EYES CAN'T PREDICT WHAT THEY DON'T SEE, BASTARD!" Gaara lunged forward, making to skewer Sasuke on his demonic left arm. The sound of clashing metal appeared, Naruto appearing with Onikiri in hand. "WHAT?! NO, WHY?! WHY?! LET ME KILL HIM, LET ME FEEL ALIVE!" Gaara howled in rage, the sand spreading over his right side as a long raccoon-like tail extended from the gourd upon his back.

"You aren't the only one with a demon inside you, Gaara!" Naruto shouted, a small flicker of Gaara's original aura floating through the air. As soon as it appeared it faded, the boy charging with both demonic arms. The only parts still human were his waist and legs, Naruto ready to use deadly force to dispatch Gaara. "You're just the one who can't control the power!" Onikiri lit on fire, Naruto slashing Gaara's mid-section and turning it to glass through and through. If he'd guess at Gaara's current physical composition, Naruto had also liquefied his abdomen.

But all that happened was an angry roar, followed by fresh sand shattering the glass from underneath. "YOU CAN'T STOP ME! NOTHING CAN STOP ME!" Naruto growled again, covering his hand in flame and punching the claw of sand holding Sasuke in place. It shattered, the Uchiha escaping with only a scratch. "NO! HE'S MINE TO KILL! MINE!"

Naruto couldn't guess at how, but a torrent of sand flowed out from Gaara's demonic form, several huge spikes extending out to pierce the boys. They each evaded, up until someone else arrived on the scene. Sakura landed on a tree branch several meters away, believing that she was safe from harm. She didn't see the spike extending up from a small sea of sand covering the forest floor. "Sakura!" Sasuke shoved Sakura out of the way, getting stabbed through his right shoulder and pinned to a tree. He grimaced at the pain, the first spike shifting into three more that pierced and pinned each of his other limbs. Sakura stuck to a tree to catch herself, jumping off of several branches to get back up to Sasuke. She was shocked still when she saw him pinned to the tree, once more letting her guard down.

The next spike to extend toward her was turned to glass by Naruto's flames, the boy grabbing Sakura and vanishing. The next moment he returned alone, his sword alight with his fire. "Entenkiri!" A massive wave of fire flew from Onikiri's blade, the entire forest floor igniting the trees and freezing the sand into glass. As the flames engulfed the trees, Gaara found his supply of sand severely limited and his body growing sluggish. This only served to fuel his anger, and he let Naruto know it.

"Why?! What is it that you care for, why should you give such effort to stop me?!" Gaara had shifted from angry shouts to confused ones, truly unable to see why Naruto would bother to get Sakura out. He looked over to Sasuke, grinning at him. "What of that one?! Do you care for him too?!" Gaara crossed his arms, swiping out forcefully as five shuriken of sand flew out at Sasuke. Naruto slashed through all five, chopping the sand spikes down from their original length to only ten centimeters out from Sasuke's body.

"This'll hurt, but you'll live. You've got to get out of here!" Naruto said, Sasuke only able to groan in response. Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders, pulling back and over them. Sasuke shouted in pain, shaking his head and doing his best to move. He couldn't go very quickly, he had to jump from the tree tops to try and get a safe distance away. Naruto looked at Gaara, the demonic boy tilting his head.

"Why is it that you care?! I don't understand why you should!" Naruto simply frowned at Gaara, ignoring the small bits of excess sand seeping into the ground.

"Because they were there with me when I had no one else, they're precious to me!" Naruto lunged forward as well, surprised when Gaara both perceived and defended against his movement. "You're quick, way quicker than before you beat Lee. I'll still beat you!" While the speed advantage was certainly with Naruto, multiple sand claws extended from Gaara's body as he lunged at Naruto. He leapt backward, but a claw extending from each shoulder extended after him while Gaara landed on the branch. Naruto waited for them to draw closer, channeling his energy into a column leading above and behind Gaara. Naruto released a pulse of energy along this column, jumping after it to appear behind Gaara as the pulse burst into flames.

Naruto's fist was alight with his fire, the blond punching into the center of where Gaara's gourd once rested. Gaara howled in pain as Naruto's fist was driven elbow deep into the sandy exterior, this sand body seeming to have connections to Gaara's nerves. It was more than an armor shell; this was some kind of transformation. "What the hell have you done to yourself?! It's like you're not human!"

"I am NOT a human! I was born a monster, and I will always be a monster! Until the day I die, no human is safe!" Naruto focused his aura beneath his skin, tearing his hand out from Gaara's back. A block of glass half a meter wide surrounded Naruto's forearm, Gaara's tail swatting the blond away before he could make another move. Naruto could easily get hits in, but after two or three Gaara's counterattacks would connect. He needed to find a way to deal more damage; Gaara's hide was far too resilient. Gaara grinned devilishly at Naruto, the blond scowling at him as his encased arm became alight with flames. Naruto's sleeve beyond the elbow burned away, his forearm's flesh falling away with the melting glass. A single drop of blood fell as Naruto's skin knitted itself back together, Gaara tilting his head in intrigue. "You aren't human either, they're far more fragile than you are. And they certainly can't heal like that."

"Heh, you got me. I'm not human," Naruto said, focusing energy into Onikiri, "but I do know what a demon is like. And you aren't a demon, however monstrous you might be. You're a human, Gaara. You can't change that by giving in to the demon sealed within you." Naruto took on a grin, lashing out with Onikiri to release a wave of fire. Gaara jumped down to the forest floor, howling in anger.

"I'll show you a demon, Uzumaki! I will prove it to you!" The sand surrounding him sprang upward in a massive pillar, a whirlwind of sand slashing at Naruto's skin. The blond glared through the whirlwind, feeling his own battle lust growing. As the pillar became wider, it began to shift shape. First arms spread out from the sides, before the base of the sand-pillar split into legs. The sand ballooned out into a similar shape to the form Gaara had taken earlier, a fat stomach and similarly fat head forming last. From the forehead of the head sprang Gaara, attached at his waist to the massive raccoon-like beast. A tail formed behind the sand-beast, Gaara's insane rage flowing through the entirety of Konoha's forests. "Now you'll all die! No one can stop my true self at work, the demon within me!" Gaara brought his hands together into a tiger seal, gratification working its way into his aura. "Tankukineiri no Jutsu!"

Gaara's eyes went blank, his aura stopping cold as his body slumped over. Naruto tilted his head, confused at what seemed to be Gaara taking a nap instead of fighting. However, as Gaara's aura faded a far more sinister power began to emanate from the massive construct. As Gaara's eyes faded and closed, the black and yellow eyes of the raccoon-like sand-beast seemed to spark to life. A purely demonic aura tore through the forests like the whirlwind of sand that had formed the beast, a maniacal cry bellowing out from the monstrous construct.

"**I'm finally FREE! I'M FREE!" **A malicious glee flowed through the aura washing across Konoha, those who could feel it looking to the suddenly-formed monster in the forest. The beast's tail swept through the trees, carving a swathe of splinters and battered animals. Naruto sensed something familiar, the sensation of an extremely potent energy being collected and drawn into something. He stood still thinking of it for a moment, before he realized that the energy was being drawn into the aura covering the area. He narrowed his eyes at the great monster, before his grin widened and he found himself remembering a training exercise Gamabunta had put him through.

The blond vanished, the monster stopping its gleeful shouts and staring at its own nose where Naruto now stood. The blond was sinking into the sand, resting Onikiri on his shoulder as he looked into the beast's eyes. Its eyes widened as it looked at Naruto's aura, almost as though it were frightened. "You know who I am, don't you? I don't know who you are, but I do know that you're the reason Gaara's life is so horrible. Am I right?" It laughed once more, tendrils of sand rising around Naruto and tapering into spears poised around the blond.

"**Smart little bastard! I should've known someone would be in the way, but the Fox of all things! You've grown quite noble, Kurama!" **The monster shouted, Naruto's grin vanishing immediately. It was then that Naruto's aura flared to life, a fierce inferno surrounding the blond and melting the sand to glass. As it melted, it fell away from Naruto while the monster recoiled in agony. **"GAAAAH BASTARD! I'LL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE!"** Naruto ran swiftly to the beast's left eye, Onikiri alight with a bright aura.

"I'll only tell you once, so listen now!" Naruto shouted, his eyes glowing brightly with anger. "I AM UZUMAKI NARUTO, AND I AM YOUR OPPONENT! REMEMBER THAT!" Naruto lashed out with as much force as he could, the aura around Onikiri focused into a magma-hot blade over the blade's edge and extended ten meters from the sword's tip. The beast's head was fifteen meters from snout to neck, Naruto slicing a chuck out of the monster's head from the lower left cheek to only half a meter from Gaara's left arm. As the corner of its head fell to the ground as sand, Naruto's aura clung to the molten sand and continued to burn as the skull tried to reform. The regeneration was for naught however, as the aura kept the sand molten like a cauterized wound.

The beast's roars of pain could be heard throughout all of Konoha, even in the evacuation tunnels behind the Hokage monument. Naruto jumped backward, focusing his aura into the bottom of his left foot. As he fell down toward the ground, he kicked backward as hard as he could while releasing the energy in a highly concentrated burst. This functioned like a secondary platform, maintaining the aura-blade around Onikiri as he slashed into the beast's mid-section. As Naruto sliced through it, he allowed himself to fall down to the ground where he saw a large scattering of bloody trees and various body parts. As he reached the ground, he saw that they were all parts of various animals indigenous to Konoha's woods. He tried to avoid lingering, but he noticed a trace of familiar energy emanating from the blood and limbs. It was then that he considered the action the beast had taken in sweeping its tail.

'_Did that thing absorb the animals' souls?! What the hell?!' _As the beast continued to howl in pain, the tail slammed into the ground and swept back and forth. As it did, the same familiar energy flowed into the malicious aura. _'Bastard… innocent creatures, pointless slaughter!'_ Naruto found himself enraged at the actions, seeing the glass across the monster cooling and separating back into sand. He saw his flames dissipating from the wounds, its sand-body closing like a hole dug in the desert. As its left eye re-formed, the beast grinned and turned around to glare down to Naruto.

"**Uzumaki, you said? I think I know that name! The last one to hold your Fox friend was Uzumaki as well! She was such a pretty thing; I always wanted to kill her myself. It makes me warm to know someone succeeded!" **Naruto lost the last grip on himself that he had, an image of a red-haired woman with eyes widened in pained anger. From behind her and through her stomach she'd been impaled by a massive Fox's claw, a blond baby crying mere centimeters from the claw's point. His aura erupted around him, all plant-life within ten meters flash-incinerated as a sphere of intense flames formed around Naruto. The sphere span fiercely, flames shooting out in every direction as Naruto began to shout in anger. His own aura began to rival the monster's, his body changing within the flame sphere. The sphere exploded outward, revealing a radically different form.

Naruto's body was hardly even reminiscent of a human anymore, his clothes having changed to become like a second skin. His sandals had vanished, his legs seemingly covered in leathery skin. His feet and shins were the same orange as Naruto's aura, slightly thicker than before and rigid like armored greaves. His legs were normal width above the knee, but they were pitch-black with smooth breaks in the flesh curving upward and around his thighs, his torso seeming like the flesh had been drawn tight against his ribs. Gaps between the ribs showed more of the bright orange that leaked around his legs, a crack sitting over his stomach where the seal resided; the energy pulsed beneath the surface, as magma spilling to the surface might appear. His jacket was skin-tight as well, no lines or cracks along its surface; however it was torn just above either elbow.

Each arm was very different from how they'd been originally, a five centimeter black curved spike extending out from either elbow. Two centimeters downward from the tip the spike had three smooth breaks similar to those on Naruto's legs, these breaks wrapping around the arms and branching across them. The flesh of the arm seemed reminiscent of gauntlets, hardened black plating with bright orange cracks along them. The insides of either arm had scale-like plating that seemed to hold the arms together, the outside of each arm having a prominent fissure that revealed brightly glowing orange flesh beneath. The armor-like plating left holes three centimeters in diameter in the backs of either hand, the black plating continuing along only the backs of the hand until just below the first knuckle of each finger. The rest of the hands were shining a bright orange the color of Naruto's aura, at a glance seeming to be made of it. The tips of each finger were pointed like spear-tips, no apparent differentiation between finger and finger-nail.

Naruto's head was very different as well, his hair having hardened into a flame-like shape upward and backward while covering his mouth and nose like a golden armored version of Kakashi's mask. His eyes were vibrant orange glows in the shape of the entire eye, no discernible retinas or corneas to speak of. Between his eyes and his hair one could see unarmored flesh, the skin seeming to be charred and hardened flesh. Those in Konoha able to sense such powers felt Naruto's energy explode, none among them familiar with such rage coming from the boy.

Before the sand-beast could react, it was falling to its right as Naruto sliced through its right leg. Naruto released a demonic roar as the aura around Onikiri intensified and lengthened further. He seemed to fly from point to point, a bright orange line arcing from place to place as the demon-boy sliced faster than any could track. Within moments Naruto had returned to the top of the beast to look it in the eye. Its fear became evident, growing more and more as it looked into Naruto's hate-filled eyes. **"You-You're not normal! You're a demon, just like I am! You-"**

"**I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!" **Naruto stabbed Onikiri into the beast's snout, Naruto's aura spreading across the beast's head as its body fell apart into massive chunks of glass. The beast howled in agony once more, Naruto looking deeply into its eyes as the beast found its gaze trapped. It knew what was going on, it thought it understood what Naruto was about to do.

"**No, no don't please! I swear I'll go away, I'll go to sleep! No one will ever hear of me ever again! Never ever, I swear to you! Please DON'T!" **The monster's cries were full of horrified agony, knowing all too well the sensation of its own power being drained away. As Naruto's eyes began to fill its vision, the boy saw where the aura was truly emanating from and turned his gaze to Gaara. Looking at the flow of energy, he raised his arm toward Gaara. The sand holding the boy followed his will, Gaara flowing into Naruto's grasp as he took more and more of the beast's demonic power.

"**You devour the innocent, and then plead for mercy? I will show you exactly why you should have feared me from the start!" **Naruto reached out and gripped Gaara's arm, his aura covering it. The aura shifted into a sandy-brown, covering the red-haired boy as Naruto tore the arm from its socket. Gaara awoke with a start, shouting in pain the same as the monster he'd unleashed. On the shoulder rested a crudely formed seal, Naruto rending the monster's spirit from the arm after pulling it from Gaara's body. **"Two souls forced together improperly leave both tortured, but I can make your suffering far greater than you ever dreamed!"**

The arm was incinerated, a sphere of sandy-brown light resting in Naruto's hand. He reeled his arm back before jamming it through Gaara's sternum. Naruto gripped Gaara's heart, the sphere being absorbed into the heart while Naruto reached his aura into Gaara. He wormed his way through the boy's heart, Gaara's proximity to death giving Naruto the ability to reach inside of Gaara's soul. Naruto forced the monster's energy to work through Gaara's soul and through the soul into Gaara's chakra system, the horror in the monster's aura only increasing as Naruto manipulated its soul. Naruto proceeded to remove his arm from Gaara's chest, the wound closing up as though it had never been there. Naruto still held a small sandy-brown orb in his hand, the black and yellow eyes of the monster looking back at him in agonized hatred.

"**What is your name?" **Naruto asked, the eyes glaring back at him as the boy held its soul before him. It reluctantly spoke back, having been defeated and reduced to a powerless spirit.

"**Shukaku. I a-" **Naruto didn't wait for any further statements, immediately cutting Shukaku off as his hand began to glow brightly.

"**Go to hell, Shukaku." **Naruto's aura covered his hand, the boy working his aura into the remains of Shukaku's soul. He worked his energy into and around the soul, forming a burning Rasengan around Shukaku's soul. The next moment, he crushed the Rasengan in hand; the result was an explosion the separated every grain of sand in the head and surrounding glass, all trees within fifty meters being knocked away by the concussive force. A massive sand cloud was also kicked up by the force of the explosion, Naruto's brightly burning form standing as the only visible point from outside of the cloud.

His anger had run its course, and as he took pleasure in Shukaku's ultimate end his aura covered him in flame. It dissipated from the bottom up, his form having returned to normal save for the fore-arms of his jacket having been torn off. He looked down toward Gaara, seeing some of the surrounding sand coming together and forming a new arm where his last one had been removed. The boy was unconscious from shock, but would survive the ordeal. _'Don't make me regret saving you, Gaara. I don't think I have a real reason to hate you yet.'_

Naruto heaved a huge sigh, having been emotionally exhausted by the ordeal. He looked around, the sand partially obscuring his vision with the thick presence of energy throughout it. Even still, he was able to make out two figures rushing his way. He stepped back and stood in front of Gaara, resting Onikiri on his shoulder as he waited for the two to come into standard view.

As he'd expected, Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Temari now stood before him. Kankuro drew the bundle on his back, unraveling it to reveal that it was a unique ninja Puppet. Temari didn't draw her fan, surprising given the sand in the area. "Temari, clear the area with your fan; there's no way he can take us both at once."

"Look around, idiot! Gaara transformed into the Shukaku, and this guy single-handedly tore it apart! We can't do a thing." Temari scolded, her brother grimacing at the painful truth. "Your name was Uzumaki, right? Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto focused on each of their auras, reading their faces, trying very hard to detect any form of deception. Finding nothing but fear and worry, he nodded his head to her.

"What's it to you? You're both enemy combatants in an invasion; convince me not to char-broil you like your little brother's pet demon." Naruto said, fear flowing in droves from the two before him. He pointed Onikiri toward them, the blade lighting up with the familiar flames of Naruto's aura. "I could erase every trace of you before anyone could even investigate."

"I know that." Temari answered, looking to Naruto pleadingly. "Please… we're terrified of Shukaku, and his influence leaves us terrified of our brother… but please, this isn't Gaara's fault! Just let us take him and go, I swear we'll head straight for the border back home! We won't bother you or anyone from Konoha again, just let us save our little brother!" Naruto focused hard on her, the love in her aura mixed thoroughly with her fear. Kankuro's was less blended, hiding his fear and worry behind love and anger. Naruto felt as though those were proof enough, Onikiri vanishing into his aura.

"When Gaara wakes up, I want you to tell him two things from me. Tell him that I'd better not regret letting you all leave here." Naruto said, walking toward the two. As they both tensed up, Naruto ignored them and continued walking. He was five meters away when Kankuro called out to him.

"What's the second thing?!" Naruto didn't turn around, he simply called back loudly.

"Tell him that he owes me a debt for the favor I've done him. He should understand that." Naruto said, vanishing from their sight as he rushed off to the arena. He could sense the auras of the invaders fading, many being killed with others having fallen unconscious, yet the vast majority of the enemies were now in active retreat. It seemed as though they were relying on Gaara as the focal point of the invasion.

Naruto could only hope that his friends and team had survived, it would've been far too easy for Genin like them to be overwhelmed in a full-scale assault.

-0-


End file.
